SAF’s senior director of government relations Shawn McBurney says the Small Business Healthcare Relief act gives employers a simpler, easier way to help their employees with rising medical costs.
The Society of American Florists is voicing its support for a bill that could give some small-business owners more flexibility under a key provision of the Affordable Care Act.
SAF and 150 other organizations recently sent a letter to the House of Representatives in support of the Small Business Healthcare Relief Act (H.R. 2911).
Under the bill, small businesses with fewer than 50 employees could offer employer payment plans and Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRAs) to employees to pay for premiums or qualified medical expenses associated with insurance coverage without being fined for helping their employees.
Prior to the ACA’s enactment, many small-business owners who could not afford to offer their employees health care insurance would pay for their employees’ medical care or reimburse the employees for health care services through an employer payment plan, such as an HRA.
“The ACA made HRAs unlawful on a stand-alone basis,” explained Shawn McBurney, SAF’s senior director of government relations. “Since July 1, 2015, small businesses which do not offer a group health plan with the HRA face fines of $100 per day, per employee. That totals $36,500 annually per employee up to $500,000 in total, or 18 times more than the $2,000 employer mandate penalty for larger employers who do not provide any coverage.”
The Small Business Healthcare Relief Act will allow small businesses to provide HRAs to help their workers and their families pay for premiums and other medical expenses.
“This provides small employers with necessary additional flexibility and allows those small companies — the majority of whom do not have human resource departments or benefits specialists —a simpler, easier way to help their employees with rising medical costs,” McBurney said.”If a small business has been unaware that helping an employee with their medical costs has been illegal through a stand-alone HRA for the last year, they will owe the Internal Revenue Service $220,000 by the end of this year.”
The letter sent to the House of Representatives that was signed by SAF and more than 150 other organizations noted the critical need for the changes to the law so that small businesses co help their employees with medical costs and urged for the swift consideration of the bill.
