The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was enacted to protect the privacy of healthcare consumers, including who has access to a patient’s medical records and who can be designated to act on their behalf. You have probably filled out a HIPAA Authorization or Acknowledgment form for every new provider you’ve seen over the last 20 years. On the surface, HIPAA compliance seems to adhere primarily to providers and insurance carriers; however, if you are an employer sponsoring health plans for your employees, there are some basic provisions you need to be aware of. Fines for not complying with HIPAA are very real and can range into the tens of thousands of dollars.
There are several healthcare-related taxes that employers have been responsible for under the Affordable Care Act. Some have gone through a sunset while others continue, and some were given a temporary holiday and were scheduled to start anew in 2018.
Following a short government shut-down, President Trump signed a short-term spending bill (a Continuing Resolution or “CR”) on January 22nd to reopen and fund the federal government through February 8, 2018. Attached to the bill are suspensions of three ACA taxes and a six-year extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Some employers struggle to understand how to create a wellness program with little or no budget, but it can be done.
For starters, the individual mandate is still in effect for 2018, meaning that employees may have to pay a sharp tax penalty of 2.5% of their income if they do not have health insurance. Early reports that this is no longer in place are false.
Even after the individual mandate is eliminated in 2019, the individual market, federal subsidies and Medicaid expansion (32 states and the District of Columbia implemented this) will all still be in place, barring further congressional action.