Employers Must Notify Employees of Health Insurance Marketplaces

By October 1, 2013, all employers (small and large) are required to provide written notices to their employees — regardless of benefit enrollment status or full- or part-time status — about health coverage options, including notification about federal and state health insurance marketplaces. Employers can send the notices by mail or electronically. In 2014, an employer will have 14 days from the employee’s start date to provide a notice.

The Department of Labor has provided sample notices for employers who do not offer insurance, as well as for employers who offer coverage to some or all employees.

Employers can also create their own notices, which must include:

• An explanation of the marketplaces with a reference to www.healthcare.gov for employees to get more information;
• Information about premium subsidies that may be available to employees if they purchase a qualified health insurance plan through a marketplace; and
• Notification that employees may lose their employer contribution to the health plan if it is obtained through a marketplace.

Learn more about healthcare reform at the free panel discussion, “Affordable Care Act – Bottomline Impact,” on October 8^th at Jungle Island in Miami. Louis Balbirer, CPA, director of tax services at Kaufman, Rossin, will be a panelist at the breakfast event, which will include the following topics:

• Play or pay? What are the consequences?
• Effects on demand for contract workers and outsourcing solutions
• Small business tax credits – who’s eligible and how do you claim them?
• Florida exchange update
• Waiting periods for “eligible employees”