Obama administration delays key part of health care law
The Obama administration is delaying by one year a mandate that employers with more than 50 full-time employees provide health benefits or pay a fine. (Los Angeles Times)
By Noam N. Levey
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration will delay a key requirement of the president’s 2010 health care law, bowing to pressure from businesses that have complained about a mandate that employers with more than 50 full-time employees provide health benefits or pay a fine.
That requirement will be not go into effect until 2015, instead of 2014 as the Affordable Care Act originally outlined, according to an announcement from the Treasury Department.
“We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively,” Mark J. Mazur, assistant secretary for tax policy, wrote in a post that was published on the department’s website late Tuesday.
The decision postpones a requirement under the law that businesses report on health coverage that they provide to their employees.
“We recognize that the vast majority of businesses that will need to do this reporting already provide health insurance to their workers, and we want to make sure it is easy for others to do so,” Mazur wrote.
Mazur stressed that other key parts of the law remain on track to be implemented in 2014, including new tax credits to help individuals buy health insurance if their employer does not provide such benefits.