The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 increases the number of Americans who will be eligible to receive premium assistance to purchase health coverage through the ACA Marketplace. Before ARPA, individuals earning 100% of the Federal Poverty Level were eligible for premium tax credits to purchase Marketplace Coverage. ARPA increases eligibility up to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level.
Under the Affordable Care Act, employers must offer affordable, minimum essential health coverage to all full-time employees and their dependents. If an employee who was not offered affordable health coverage receives a premium tax credit for purchasing Marketplace coverage, the employer will be assessed a large tax penalty.
With the increase in people eligible for premium assistance, it is more and more important for employers to calculate their full-time employees properly and offer coverage to those employees. Employers will not want to be in a position of having to pay a tax penalty for an employee who should have been offered health coverage was not offered coverage.
BAS provides ACA data collection and reporting services and can help with your full-time employee calculations. For information about BAS’ ACA Services, contact your account manager or solutions@BASusa.com.
