Tipsheet

BREAKING: ObamaCare Employer Mandate Delayed Until 2015

The Obama administration has announced it will delay forcing employers with 50 or more employees to provide health insurance coverage until 2015. The original requirement was set to go into effect in 2014.

From the Treasury Department website where the announcement was made:

Over the past several months, the Administration has been engaging in a dialogue with businesses - many of which already provide health coverage for their workers - about the new employer and insurer reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively.  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.  We have listened to your feedback.  And we are taking action.  

The Administration is announcing that it will provide an additional year before the ACA mandatory employer and insurer reporting requirements begin.  This is designed to meet two goals.  First, it will allow us to consider ways to simplify the new reporting requirements consistent with the law.  Second, it will provide time to adapt health coverage and reporting systems while employers are moving toward making health coverage affordable and accessible for their employees.  Within the next week, we will publish formal guidance describing this transition.  Just like the Administration’s effort to turn the initial 21-page application for health insurance into a three-page application, we are working hard to adapt and to be flexible about reporting requirements as we implement the law.

We've been writing for years now that this thing would be a disaster. I suspect we'll be seeing other parts of the bill being delayed as implementation becomes more and more unrealistic.