Second Chance Open Enrollment Through April 30 For ObamaCare: How Will Employers React If a Second Chance Enroller Triggers an Employer Mandate Penalty?

February 23, 2015 at 9:04 am | Posted in Affordable Care Act, Health Care | Leave a comment
Tags: ACA, Affordable Care Act, enrollment, Obamacare, tax, tax return, taxes

The Hill reported today that the Obama administration (through CMS) will hold a second enrollment period for ObamaCare this year to give people a chance to avoid a new tax penalty for going without insurance. The enrollment period will run from March 15 to April 30, at the height of tax filing season, officials said. The announcement does not address the issue of whether any form of transitional relief would be available to a large employer who, until now, may have avoided a penalty under the employer mandate because of the failure of an employee to sign up for ACA coverage and possibly receive a premium subsidy. Arguably, such an employer would now be exposed again since employees lacking coverage will have another bite at the ACA health coverage subsidy apple.

Congressional Democrats and advocacy groups had been pushing for the new enrollment period, arguing that millions of people are still unaware of the penalty and should be able to sign up for ObamaCare once they learn of it. “Our intention in doing this is not to increase numbers for numbers sake, it’s to make sure that if there were people who were unaware of the fee that they aren’t disadvantaged by that,” Andy Slavitt, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ deputy administrator, said on a call with reporters. The administration estimates that up to 6 million people will likely be forced to pay the fine for not having insurance during this year’s tax season, marking the first time that the penalty will be in effect. Officials said that they do not have an estimate for how many people will take advantage of the new enrollment period.
People signing up now will still have to pay a penalty for lacking insurance in 2014. Anyone who was uninsured last year will be hit with penalties of either $95 or 1 percent of their income — whichever is higher. That fine will spike this year to $325 or 2 percent of their income. Officials said that the new period is a one-year-only occurrence. “Our intention is that this is one year only for people who have not been in the communication loop around the tax penalty,” Slavitt said.
Separately, the administration announced that there had been an error on a tax return form for people with coverage under ObamaCare, causing some tax credits to be calculated either too high or too low. Officials said the problem affects around 50,000 people who have already filed their taxes, and that they are being contacted to correct the problem.
A link to the announcement can be found here: CMS Announces Special Enrollment Period for Tax Season