I have provided for you a time line of the provisions of the affordable care act (ACA) starting with its inception year 2010 running out and beyond 2015. If you click on the hyperlink under 2014, you will see the reform provisions that were implemented this year. If you go out to 2015, you’ll see even more.

The employer mandate in 2015 is something I’d like to draw your attention to. The employer mandate applies to large groups (50 or more full-time equivalent (FTE)). Please make careful note of this verbiage. You could have 80 people on your group, but you could actually have 40 that would be considered FTEs. This verbiage, as it applies to us here in Iowa, particularly impacts folks with seasonal occupations, such as our farmers, people doing outdoor work, possibly their jobs end in the late Fall as Winter approaches. Please read this carefully.

If you have any questions as to whether or not this applies to you, please give us a call. We will try to make the complicated appear simple. You will also see, on the left hand side of this web page, a menu of other items pertaining to the ACA. Towards the bottom, you will click on videos. These are short, very easy to understand, and cover a wide variety of topics. Scroll through this at your convenience. I hope you find this a helpful link.

Oftentimes, in your best interest, we will work closely with your CPA to determine the eligibility, if there is any doubt in an effort to keep you compliant and help you make strategic decisions going forward. We need to determine if you are a large group or a small group and then we would be happy to explain to you what your obligations are or not and how you can prepare, plan and budget this very important benefit to attract and retain quality employees.

Call Sears Insurance with any of your questions. We’ll be happy to help!