In my commentary last week on the delay of the 2014 employer penalties, I indicated that I expected additional changes in the rules and regulations to follow. So here is what has happened since the Employer Mandate delay. Go Ahead and Lie. To be eligible to receive a subsidy from the government for individual coverage, you were not allowed to be covered by a qualified employer plan, and you must be below income thresholds. When applying, the Exchange would verify your coverage option from your employer and your Income from the IRS. Last week the government announced it would not verify if you had employer coverage or your income. http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-07-05/national/40390077_1_health-insurance-consumer-claims-federal-government Enjoy that Smoke! UPI is reporting that a conflict exists in the Affordable Care Act which could raise the cost of coverage for young people while giving additional breaks to smokers who are older and that it could take a year to remedy the issue. The Affordable Care Act, ACA, mandates that older individuals premiums cannot exceed 3x the premium for younger people. The ACA does not account for the additional premiums for smokers, thus the conflict. http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/07/09/Obamacare-Smokers-may-get-break-from-penalties/7251373392294/ While this is all good news for consumers and employers alike, probably, you must remember that every dollar spent will be coming from you in other ways. I have great anxiety about where that burden will fall.
Mark Gurda
President
Castle Group Health Inc.
