Veterans' exemption from employer mandate OK'd by Senate committee
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More small employers would be shielded from a health care reform law provision that requires employers to offer coverage or be liable for a stiff financial penalty under legislation approved Wednesday by the Senate Finance Committee.
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, employers with at least 100 full-time employees must, starting this year, offer coverage or be liable for a $2,000-per-employee penalty. In 2016, the 100-employee threshold for the so-called employer mandate drops to 50 employees and remains at that level in succeeding years.
Under legislation, H.R. 22, passed on a 26-0 vote, employees who receive health care coverage from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or a federal program known as Tricare due to their military service, would not be counted in calculating whether their employers hit the employment count threshold that triggers the ACA employer coverage mandate. The House earlier this month passed the measure on a 412-0 vote.
“Quite simply, passing this legislation is something we can do that will help our nation’s veterans find needed jobs as well as help the small businesses that want to hire them,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement.
The House last year passed an identical bill, but it was not taken up by the Senate. The current bill now goes to the full Senate.
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House passes bill offering smaller employers relief from ACA coverage mandate
More small employers would be shielded from a health care reform law provision that requires employers to offer coverage or be liable for a stiff financial penalty under veterans-related legislation approved by the House of Representatives.
