The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is changing constantly. When it was drafted back in 2010, it looked a lot different than it does now….thank goodness. Some of the ideas of the ACA are very good, but many are not, and frankly it was not well thought out. When you hear the quote from Nancy Pelosi “lets pass ObamaCare so we can see what’s in it” typifies the confusion surrounding the ACA, even from the numbskulls that passed it. There are many compliance mandates associated with ObamaCare that employers have to comply with. Employers big and small.
Complicated compliance issues for companies and the ACA
Whether you are a small or large employer, you are required to have some compliance paperwork on hand for the Dept of Labor and more importantly for new employees coming on. You need a Summary Plan Design (SPD) and the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) for your health plan. If you are a larger employer, a wrap document that incorporates the SPDs of your plan is advisable as well. A good HR attorney can help you draft that. If you are an employer with at least 20 employees, you need to administer Federal Cobra. If you were a client of Brauer Insurance, we have a TPA (Third Party Administrator) that would do that for you. Relieving you of any liability. Added benefits like that distinguish good Benefit Brokers from great.
Added Value Benefits when you use Health Insurance Specialists like Brauer Insurance
If you have a broker that specializes in Health Insurance and they have a bunch of cool added value services for you….keep them. There are not many of us around anymore. Added benefits like an in-house HR attorney, Cobra Administration and the like, are not usually offered by Health Insurance brokers. I got into this industry in 2003 before it imploded with the ACA, but I’m here to stay. We are the Health Insurance specialists in the Silicon Valley. If we don’t have the answer about the ACA, we know where to get it. If you have a company with 2-200 employees, we can probably help you lower costs and get compliant with all of the confusing compliance issues surrounding the ACA.