After the Election

After the most tumultuous election season in recent memory, a top question on employee and employer minds alike is focused on health care and what to expect in the coming months.  While nothing will be swift, we can certainly expect to see changes ahead. A good predictor of what's to come may be the 2015 Congressional budget reconciliation that was vetoed, which would have done away with several components of the Affordable Care Act.

Taxes under the ACA

The 40% excise tax on health care plans above certain threshold costs (the so called Cadillac Tax), the medical device tax, and recently increased Medicare taxes on certain individuals making above a threshold amount of salary would likely fall away

Mandates and Reporting

The individual mandate (section 5000) and employer mandates (section 4980h(a) and (b)) would likely fall away, which would take with them the reporting requirements under 6055 and 6055 (ie Forms 1094 and 1095)

Cost sharing and premium subsidies available in the public marketplaces would likely be removed, meaning coverage in the exchanges would be drastically more expensive for those currently insured here

Medicaid

Mandatory Medicaid expansion was already struck down in one of the first Supreme Court challenges to the legislation, and after Trump is in office, all states that elected Medicaid expansion will likely cease since the funding associated with such expansion would be repealed

Employers should keep in mind nothing happens swiftly, and all reporting deadlines for 2016 (due in early 2017) will proceed as currently scheduled. All health plan decisions should be made with current legislative framework in mind.