April 1, 2010
Congress has approved, and the President has signed, two pieces of
legislation that create a brave new world for the provision of health care
services in the United States, and which includes a number of significant
changes to federal tax laws. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
and its companion bill, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
(HCERA), will have a direct impact on virtually all Americans and American
employers.
With this WorkCite, McGuireWoods is launching a series of
communications in which we will focus on various aspects of PPACA and HCERA. The
following briefly summarizes provisions of the new laws that will be of
particular importance to employers and health plan providers. In future
communications we will provide more detailed explanations of how the new laws
will work; when they will come into play; what choices individuals, employers,
and providers will have; and how the new laws will affect business. Many of
these changes will require significant regulatory guidance (from a variety of
agencies) and we will address that guidance in our future WorkCites on this
topic.
Comprised of over 2,500 pages, the Act is detailed and complex. We anticipate
that near-term future WorkCites on this topic will provide more details
on effective dates for specific new requirements and on the implications of the
Act for existing employer-sponsored plans, which the Act refers to as
“grandfathered plans.”
This WorkCite provides an overview of PPACA and HCERA (we refer
to them together as the Act).
Please click here to read about these topics:
- Employer Mandates
- Changes in Lifetime and Annual Benefits and Waiting Periods
- Dependent children coverage
- Play-or-Pay Mandate on Employers
- Pre-Existing Conditions
- Automatic Enrollment
- Excise Tax on “Cadillac” Health Plans
- Annual Information Returns
- New Rules for Cafeteria Plans and other Healthcare Reimbursement
Arrangements
- Wellness Incentives
- Nondiscrimination rules for insured health plans
- Retiree Medical
- Participant Mandates
- Individual Mandate
- Refundable Tax Credits
- Free Choice Vouchers
- Free-Rider Mandate
- HSA Penalty Increase
- Increase in Medicare Tax Rate
- Unearned Income Medicare Contribution
- Changes to Medicare Advantage Plans
- Closing the Medicare Donut Hole
- Portability
- CLASS Act (Long-Term Care Insurance)
- Provider Mandates
- No Cancellation of Policies
- Health Insurance Exchanges
- Other Insurance Market Reforms
- Small Business Health Option Programs
- Fees and Taxes
- Tort Reform
For additional information or help analyzing the impact of the Act, please
contact any member of the McGuireWoods'
Employee
Benefits Team.
Visit the Healthcare
Reform section for additional updates and resources.