House Bill Protects Companies That Employ Vets from The ACA’s Employer Mandate
President Obama has signed a bill exempting individuals from being counted by employers as employees for purposes of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer mandate for any month that such individual has medical coverage under Tricare or the Veterans Administration (VA). The exemption will be applied retroactively for months beginning after December 31, 2013. The bill, known as the “VA Budget and Choice Improvement Act,” is contained in Title IV of the “Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015” (the Highway bill) (H.R. 3236), which was signed by President Obama on July 31, 2015. Section 4007 of the Highway bill amends section 4980H(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code to effect the veteran exemption.
The bill, known as the “VA Budget and Choice Improvement Act,” is contained in Title IV of the “Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015” (the Highway bill) (H.R 3236), which was signed by President Obama on July 31, 2015. Section 4007 of the Highway bill amends section 4980H(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code to effect the veteran exemption.
The bill should help employers hire more veterans by providing them relief from the ACA’ Section 1513 mandate (P.L. 111-148), which states that if a business has at least 50 full-time employees, it must provide them with health insurance even if they are already getting health insurance elsewhere. Prior to the bill’s enactment, if a veteran was receiving heath care from the VA, he or she was still counted toward the 50-employee threshold. This situation may have incentivize companies to turn away veterans, not because they didn’t want to hire them, but because the ACA made it too expensive to hire them. The bill simply exempts veterans who are already getting health care through Tricare or the VA from counting toward the ACA employer mandate threshold. This should encourage businesses to hire more veterans without fear of the ACA tax or penalty.
The bill also (1) requires the VA to develop a plan to consolidate all non-VA provider programs by establishing a new, single program to be known as the “Veterans Choice Program,” to furnish hospital care and medical services to veterans; and (2) helps veterans with a service-connected disability save for health care costs through health savings accounts (HSAs).
SOURCE: Public Law No: 114-41, as signed by the President on July 31, 2015.
Reposted with permission from Wolters Kluwer.
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