Medium Sized Employers and the ACA

As we get closer to 2015 employers that are close to 100 employees (or those in 2016 that are close to 50 employees) should to decide if they want to be a large or small employer under the Affordable Care Act.

If you already offer health insurance many parts of this article will not apply to you.  You should however check to be sure that your plan meets the definition of health insurance (ask your agent).

As a medium-sized employer, when reviewing your options consider:

1. Will offering coverage make health insurance more expensive to your employees? (See full article here).  Employees that can obtain health insurance from their employer cannot buy health insurance from the exchange and thus qualify for a subsidy.

2. Should you allow spouses and children on your plan?  Many employers do not pay for dependents.  It may be much cheaper for the dependents to obtain coverage from the exchange (see article above).  You may want to restrict coverage to just your employees.

3. Your industry norms.  Some employers are competing against others that will not offer health insurance and their margins are so small that they cannot raise prices enough to cover costs.  On the other hand if your competitors offer health insurance you will have a significant disadvantage when recruiting and retaining employees.

4. Wellness – Health insurance provides a healthier, more productive staff.  Though difficult to quantify this figures into many business owner’s decision making process.