Affordable Care Act Deadline to Distribute Exchange Notice Postponed

The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employers notify employees about the health insurance exchange by March 1, 2013, has been postponed indefinitely. The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury have postponed this requirement until the Secretary of Labor issues regulations about the notice and those regulations become effective. It is anticipated that the requirement for distribution of the notice will be in the late summer or fall of 2013, which will coordinate with the open enrollment period for the exchanges.  

The exchange notice required by the ACA must include the following information:  

• Identification of the existence of the exchange and the manner in which employees may contact the exchange
• Explanation that the employee may be  eligible for tax credits to purchase health insurance on the exchange
• Notification that the employee may lose the employer’s contribution toward health benefits, resulting in tax consequences if he or she purchases coverage through the exchange

What This Means for Employers

It is likely that the Department of Labor will issue a model notice that would satisfy the above requirements. Once the model notice is issued, Bernstein Shur’s Affordable Care Act Team will recommend whether employers should use that model or draft their own. For now, employers are relieved of the obligation to provide new and current employees with the notice, until further guidance is issued.

We will continue to keep employers apprised of developments related to the implementation of the notice requirement, as well as other issues related to the ACA. For more information, please contact Karen Aframe in Manchester, NH, at 603 623-8700 or kaframe@bernsteinshur.com, or Steve Gerlach in Portland, ME, at 207 228-7128 or sgerlach@bernsteinshur.com.  

To help employers with ACA compliance, Bernstein Shur has assembled an Affordable Care Act Team — a multi-specialty group of attorneys from employment law, litigation, business law and ERISA. The ACA Team is available for flat-fee, full compliance audits, and half-day and full-day workshops.