Employers that want to offer health insurance to their employees can do so for much less than they think. The employers that offer health insurance are only responsible to pay for 50% of the single employee premium, meaning about $150 a month or so. The employees have to pick up the rest of the tab, and can do so with pre-taxed money. Groups with over 50 employees, but less than 100 will be mandated to offer coverage to their staff on January 1, 2016. Now….the key phrase here is “offer” insurance. That means that the employer only has to offer the coverage, and what we’ve found is that most employees will not elect to enroll. With these groups, the most an employee can pay for their coverage is 9% of their gross wages, by law.
Employers have to pick up the tab for workers Health Insurance over a certain price
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates that employers that have over 50 employees not only have to offer coverage, but pay the cost for health insurance for a worker that exceeds 9% of the employees gross wages. For a $12 an hour worker, 9% is about $150 a month. That means if the health insurance premium for that worker is $500, the employer is responsible for $350 a month. That has employers angry and scared.
Employers that are angry and scared about the Play or Pay mandate of ObamaCare
Here is the reality. Most workers that make lower wages either can’t afford, think they can’t afford, or just plain don’t want to pay for health insurance. The $150 a month could be $5….they don’t want to pay, period. They either don’t want it or think they can get it free from the government. Well, they are finding out that if the employer “offers” coverage and it meets the ACA mandates, the employee that declines coverage and tries to get a subsidy from the government, will be denied. We’ve got some very surprised people that are having to pay back the government for obtaining subsidies and then realizing they were never entitled to them in the first place. What we are finding is that out of a group of 100 employees, about 5-10 are electing coverage, at most.