Could This Court Case End ACA-Fueled Government Shutdown?

Recently, a Florida employer (Kawa Orthodontists) filed a case asserting that the President’s decision to delay for one year the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act was in violation of the constitution.  At the heart of the case is whether the President had the right to delay the tax imposed on businesses, while continuing to impose the tax on individuals.

The matter of delaying the ACA’s individual mandate fueled a political debate that led to the current shutdown of the federal government and threatens to create a delay in raising the debt limit.

If a court ruling in favor of Kawa were to come before it is necessary to raise the debt limit, it could have the affect of ending the disagreement underlying the budget battle.

For more information on the Kawa case go to:

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/obamacare-lawsuites-president-mandate/2013/10/09/id/530126?ns_mail_uid=63311642

Worker misclassification – a Risky Business for avoiding Affordable Care Act

Worker misclassification – a Risky Business for avoiding Affordable Care Act

Here is an interesting article on the high risk businesses take in calling their workers independent contractors to avoid the Obamacare employer mandate.

Quotes to Note | Harry Truman on National Healthcare

“The health of American children, like their education, should be recognized as a definite public responsibility.”

– Harry Truman, National Health Assembly Dinner, May 1, 1948

For the full text of the speech go to http://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/viewpapers.php?pid=1612

A Lesson on the Affordable Care Act from the Daily Show

Obamacare has made it to comedy prime time.  Jon Stewart explains how it works and “how to work it.”

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-19-2013/care-fears

Affordable Care Act Guidance for HRAs, health FSAs and EAPs

The IRS has issued Notice 2013-54 which provides guidance on the application of the market reform provisions and other provisions of the Affordable Care Act to certain healthcare arrangements, including health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), employer payment plans, and health flexible spending arrangements (health FSAs).

The notice also provides guidance on section 125(f)(3) of the Code and on employee assistance programs or EAPs.  The guidance in the notice is being issued in substantially identical form by the Department of Labor, and guidance is being issued by the Department of Health and Human Services to reflect that HHS concurs with the guidance in the notice.

Health Savings Accounts | ACA guidelines now available

The IRS issued a notice today clarifying that a health plan will not fail to qualify as a high deductible health plan (HDHP) under section 223(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) merely because it provides without a deductible the preventive health services required under section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) to be provided by a group health plan or a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage.

The full notice is available at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-13-57.pdf

For background on health savings accounts see our blog post at http://wp.me/p3RWNG-29.