On January 1, 2015, employers with 100 or more “full-time equivalents” will be subject to the “Pay or Play” regulations under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Over the past few years, many consultants have sought to identify loopholes in the law and lower-cost strategies for complying. Unfortunately for employers who were banking on these “workarounds,” the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Labor both issued guidance this week dismissing several of the more aggressive strategies that have garnered attention in the press.
Continue Reading Feds Tighten the Belt on “Skinny Plans” and Other ACA Workarounds
Halbig v. Burwell: A Death Blow for the Affordable Care Act?
By Lee Tankle on
Posted in Employee Benefits
Earlier today, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in Halbig v. Burwell that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) authorizes the issuance of tax credits to assist individuals to purchase health coverage only on state-run exchanges. On the same day, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reached the opposite conclusion in King v. Burwell, holding that ACA tax credits were also available to participants in federally-run exchanges.
Continue Reading Halbig v. Burwell: A Death Blow for the Affordable Care Act?