Many of the 51-employee companies that the federal government classifies as “large” are still having some trouble with complying with Affordable Care Act coverage and reporting requirements.
Sean Cooper, director of partner management at SyncStream Solutions, a benefits compliance and reporting firm, says in a written comment that “applicable large employers” — ALEs — seemed to have an easier time meeting the employee counting and reporting requirements than in earlier years.
Many ALEs learned from what they had done wrong in the past, and they started 2018 with all of the information they needed for filing their reports for 2017 coverage, Cooper says.
(Related: New ACA Employer Requirements Continue to Roll In)
But Cooper says some ALEs are still having trouble with ACA compliance.
1 Minimum essential coverage rules: The ACA requires many ALEs to provide solid major medical coverage, or “minimum essential coverage” (MEC), with a minimum value, and with an employee out-of-pocket premium payment that’s officially classified as “affordable.”
This year, even though the MEC and minimum value regulations have been in place for several years, “many ALEs still questioned what actually qualified as an affordable plan,” Cooper says.
2. Obsolete form lines. Some ACA rules have changed, either because of the enactment of new laws or the expiration of temporary provisions in the ACA statutes.