What CE Retailers Need to Know About Health Care Reform

How new health care reform legislation will impact your business

Retailers can debate the new health care reform law's failure to reign in costs and decrease premiums. They can worry about its impact on the federal deficit.  But before any retailer - from independents to big boxes - give health care reform another thought, they have to call their accountants and press for specifics about how the new law impacts them.

In the process of trying to achieve greater healthcare coverage for more Americans, the new health care reform law will directly impact retailers' human resource policies and procedures, put new mandates and restrictions on insurance providers, and levy new restrictions and, in some cases, new taxes on employees and business owners.

The Obama administration campaigned hard to promote the new law to consumers and small businesses (of up to 25 fulltime employees) but provided disappointingly limited information about the law's specific impact on bigger business. Dealerscope is here to try and fill the gaps. Below is a primer/timeline of some of the major health care reform changes that will impact retailers in the years ahead. Many more complex changes are in the offing. So call that accountant now!

Need To Know in 2010

The Grandfather Provision

The new law "grandfathers" group health plans that were in existence on March 23, 2010, making them exempt from many, but not all, of the new insurance requirements coming online with health care reform. The provision permits employers to enroll new family members  of existing employees and new employees into a grandfathered plan. But what changes can be made to a grandfathered plan without losing the "grandfathered" status remains unclear. New regulations to clarify the requirements are expected.

Small Business Tax Credit

Effective January 1, 2010, tax credits are available to qualifying small businesses that provide health insurance to their employees. A business qualifies for the credit if it covers at least 50 percent of the cost of health coverage for its workers, pays average annual wages below $50,000 and has less than the equivalent of 25 full-time equivalent workers. (Under the health care reform law, a full-time worker works an average of 30 or more hours per week. A business' "full-time equivalent" or FTE employee level is calculated by aggregating part-time employee hours worked.)