Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Late Tax Filers Risk Big Bills, Loss Of Obamacare Subsidies
Sign-up season for President Barack Obama's health care law doesn't start for another couple of months, but the next few days are crucial for hundreds of thousands of customers at risk of losing financial aid when they renew coverage for 2016. Call them tardy tax filers: an estimated 1.8 million households that got subsidies for their premiums last year but failed to file a 2014 tax return as required by the law, or left out key IRS paperwork. (8/24)
The latest analysis of the so-called 鈥淐adillac tax鈥 on rich medical plans projects one in four employers offering health benefits 鈥渃ould be affected鈥 by the regulation in 2018 if they don鈥檛 make changes to their benefit structures. The Cadillac tax was created as part of the Affordable Care Act largely as a way to help fund benefits to the uninsured under the law. Starting in 2018, employers pay a 40 percent tax on costs of health plans that are above $10,200 per individual and $27,500 for family coverage. (Japsen, 8/25)
If you like your flexible spending account...you might not be able to keep your flexible spending account. Obamacare's looming "Cadillac tax" on high-cost health plans threatens to hit 1 in 4 U.S. employers when it takes effect in 2018鈥攁nd will impact 42 percent of all employers by a decade later, according to a new analysis. (Mangan, 8/25)