Benefitter Sees $5 Billion Savings to U.S. Employers in 2014 Based on IRS-Declared Changes to Healthcare Reform
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 03, 2013 -- Benefitter, a leading provider of software for navigating healthcare reform, calculates $5 billion or more in potential savings for U.S. employers as a result of the IRS announcement to delay key elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also referred to as Obamacare). The U.S. Department of Treasury announced Tuesday that the healthcare reform "employer mandate" has been delayed by one year, which eliminates financial penalties for thousands of U.S. employers who were previously required to cover employees with employer-sponsored group insurance or face government fines. Yet despite the significant savings for some employers, most of the healthcare reform legislation remains intact and requires employers to take action immediately.
"Healthcare reform legislation is filled with 'carrots' and 'sticks' to create incentives for employers, insurers, medical providers, and consumers," says Brian Poger, CEO of Benefitter. "However, based on Tuesday's announcement by the U.S. Department of Treasury, it seems the 'stick' truck got a flat tire for 2014, but the 'carrot' truck is arriving on time."
The Department of Treasury explains that "transition relief" makes it impractical to determine which employers owe shared responsibility payments for 2014. As a result, the Department of Treasury decided to extend this transition relief to the employer “shared responsibility payments.” Therefore employer “shared responsibility payments” – as much as $2,000 per employee – will not be assessed by the IRS for 2014. However, public insurance marketplaces, premium tax credits, guaranteed issue, and other key facets of the Affordable Care Act appear to remain intact as originally planned.
The elimination of the employer “shared responsibility payments” for 2014 lifts a key barrier to employers opting out of employer-sponsored health coverage. Employers must now assess whether they should continue to sponsor group-based heath coverage or whether they should instead guide some or all of their employees to the individual market for insurance, potentially with federal support. In addition, employers must clearly communicate to their employees their coverage options under healthcare reform in the state marketplaces. And finally, companies should ensure that employees without employer-sponsored coverage get much-needed assistance navigating the individual insurance market.
Benefitter offers straight-forward software-as-a-service solutions for all of the employer healthcare reform tasks made even more critical with the IRS announcement on Tuesday. Benefitter helps employers make the "pay or play" decision, communicate healthcare reform options to employees, and guide employees through individual insurance purchases.
For more information on Benefitter solutions: http://www.benefitter.com/solution
About Benefitter
Benefitter helps employers and employees confidently navigate the evolving healthcare reform legislation. Benefitter works closely with agents, brokers and consultants to deliver straightforward software-as-a-service solutions to employers and employees. Based in San Francisco, California, Benefitter is funded in part by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Aberdare Ventures, and Mayo Clinic. http://www.benefitter.com
Conrad Voorsanger, http://www.benefitter.com, 650 206 8217, [email protected]
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