Affordable Care Act

What is the Affordable Care Act?

On March 23, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly referred to as Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law. The ACA was created to increase the affordability and quality of health insurance by expanding coverage both in the public and private sectors. The ACA includes a number of provisions that have taken place or will take place between 2010 and 2020. As we can not cover everything in this article, we would like to specifically discuss pieces of the employer mandate.

The Employer Shared Responsibility Mandate provision is a penalty that Applicable Large Employers (ALEs), those with more than 50 employees may incur if they do not offer health insurance to their full-time workers (employees averaging 30 hours or more per week). In February 2014, final rules were issued regarding how to count employee hours and determine employee full-time status for purposes of the Employer Shared Responsibility Mandate. Under the these rules, employers have the option of using the look-back method to determine the status of an employee as a full-time employee during a future period (referred to as a stability period), based upon the hours of service of the employee in a prior period (referred to as a measurement period). If the employee is measured to be full-time, medical coverage meeting affordability and value standards must be offered.

In 2016, Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) must comply with the Affordable Care Act and offer coverage to 95% of full-time employees to get ready for assessment of penalties.

For more information on the ACA, please visit. Also, have the conversations with your broker and/or legal counsel.

Is My Company an ALE?

To determine if your company is an ALE, visit. If you determine that you are in fact an ALE, Pro Workforce has an excellent product called ACA Manager. It gives you the tools to effectively manage regular and variable hour employees’ benefit compliance, along with applicable reporting. Let your dedicated Payroll Specialist know you are interested.

Thank You
For some of you, the first year of ACA reporting is under your belt. As with the rest of the country, it was quite the learning experience for everyone involved. Here at Profit Builders, we want to thank each and every client for their dedication and patience with the process. Rest assured, there will be continuous enhancements made to the ACA Manager in Pro Workforce, especially as new guidelines and provisions are announced by the IRS.