It’s the three little words that get business owners and human resource professionals in a tizzy these days.
No, it’s not: “You’re being audited.” Or even: “Quarterly Performance Evaluations.” It’s these three little words: Health Care Reform.
While some of the Health Care Reform mandates have been pushed out a little further, there are still a few things you need to do now. And one of them is updating your Employee Handbook to make sure it is in compliance with the Health Care Reform changes.
So dust off that Employee Handbook and revisit these two areas:
First up, let’s go over offering cover to new employees since they takes effect in 2014.
After January 1, 2014, a health plan may not impose a waiting period that exceeds 90 days. (A waiting period is an amount of time that has to pass before an eligible employee or dependent can enroll in the plan.) Companies have to change this no more than 90 days policy by their first renewal on January 1, 2014 or after.
You need to make sure to look over your policies to see that you offer coverage to new employees within 90 days of hire. You may still have other conditions for eligibility as long as they are not a sneaky way of avoiding compliance with the 90-day waiting period.
Many companies have policies where there is a waiting period for coverage that says, “the 1st of the month following 90 days.” These will be out of compliance with the Health Care Reform changes after January 1, 2014. We suggest you change your policy to say, “the 1st of the month following 60 days.”
Let’s more on to defining full-time employees. While this doesn’t take effect until 2015, it’s never too early to be prepared.
Currently, a full-time employee is an employee who works at least 30 hours a week. Now, the proposed changes that would take effect in January 2015 say that 130 hours of work in a calendar month is the equivalent of 30 hours a week.
When calculating 130 hours of work in a month be sure to include:
Thanks to Employee Benefits Advisor Angie Weilage (Brown & Brown Insurance) for keeping us up to date on all the Health Care Reform changes.
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