<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div><span>This is great. I wish we could kind of streamline it for a piece of tabling literature.<var id="yui-ie-cursor"></var></span></div><div><br></div> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <div class="hr" style="margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); height: 0px; line-height: 0; font-size: 0px;" contenteditable="false" readonly="true"></div> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Gerald Hunt <gwhunt97@comcast.net><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> 'Greg Miller-HCA' <brogregm@sbcglobal.net>; 'Sandy Perry-HCA' <perrysandy@aol.com>; 'Caroline Yacoub-Green Party'
<carolineyacoub@att.net>; Jim Doyle <j.m.doyle@sbcglobal.net>; Joan Simon <peacenut99@yahoo.com>; Lynne Penek-Holden <lpenek@yahoo.com>; Bob Applebaum-HCA <bobjohnston4503@earthlink.net> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Saturday, September 7, 2013 10:47 AM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> FW: Quote-of-the-day Digest, Vol 116, Issue 4<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container"><br>
ACA means complexity upon complexity upon complexity . . . . <br><br>This reflects another step towards Single Payer as a rescue of Government<br>trying to regulate that for which it has forfeited control.<br><br>Gerry<br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: <a href="mailto:quote-of-the-day-bounces@mccanne.org" ymailto="mailto:quote-of-the-day-bounces@mccanne.org">quote-of-the-day-bounces@mccanne.org</a><br>[mailto:<a href="mailto:quote-of-the-day-bounces@mccanne.org" ymailto="mailto:quote-of-the-day-bounces@mccanne.org">quote-of-the-day-bounces@mccanne.org</a>] On Behalf Of<br><a href="mailto:quote-of-the-day-request@mccanne.org" ymailto="mailto:quote-of-the-day-request@mccanne.org">quote-of-the-day-request@mccanne.org</a><br>Sent: Saturday, September 07, 2013 9:00 AM<br>To: <a href="mailto:quote-of-the-day@mccanne.org" ymailto="mailto:quote-of-the-day@mccanne.org">quote-of-the-day@mccanne.org</a><br>Subject: Quote-of-the-day Digest, Vol 116, Issue
4<br><br>Today's Topics:<br><br> 1. qotd: IRS reporting requirements for managing ACA subsidies<br> and penalties (Don McCanne)<br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>U.S. Department of the Treasury<br>September 5, 2013<br>Treasury Issues Proposed Rules for Information Reporting by Employers and<br>Insurers Under the Affordable Care Act<br><br>The ACA provides for information reporting (under Internal Revenue Code<br>section 6055) by insurers, self-insuring employers, and other parties that<br>provide health coverage. It also provides for information reporting (under<br>Code section 6056) by employers that are large enough to be subject to the<br>employer shared responsibility provisions regarding the health coverage they<br>offer their full-time employees. These proposed regulations reflect comments<br>received and an ongoing dialogue with stakeholders,
including plan sponsors,<br>many of whom already offer their full-time workforce coverage far exceeding<br>the minimum employer shared responsibility requirements. Nearly<br>95 percent of employers with more than 50 full-time employees already offer<br>coverage to their employees.<br><br>The proposed rules issued today describe a variety of options to potentially<br>reduce or streamline information reporting, such as:<br><br>* Replacing section 6056 employee statements with Form W-2 reporting on<br>offers of employer-sponsored coverage to employees, spouses, and dependents.<br><br>* Eliminating the need to determine whether particular employees are<br>full-time if adequate coverage is offered to all potentially full-time<br>employees.<br><br>* Allowing employers to report the specific cost to an employee of<br>purchasing employer-sponsored coverage only if the cost is above a specified<br>dollar amount.<br><br>* Allowing self-insured group health plans
to avoid furnishing employee<br>statements under both section 6055 and section 6056 by furnishing a single<br>substitute statement.<br><br>* Limited reporting for certain self-insured employers offering no-cost<br>coverage to employees and their families.<br><br>* Permitting health insurance issuers to forgo reporting under section 6055<br>on individual coverage offered through a Marketplace because that<br>information will be provided by the Marketplace.<br><br>* Permitting health insurance issuers, employers, and other reporting<br>entities under section 6055 to forgo reporting the specific dates of<br>coverage (instead reporting only the months of coverage), the amount of any<br>cost-sharing reductions, or the portion of the premium paid by an employer.<br><br>The statute calls for employers, insurers, and other reporting entities to<br>report, among other things:<br><br>For section 6055:<br><br>* Information about the entity providing coverage,
including contact<br>information.<br><br>* A list of individuals with identifying information and the months they<br>were covered.<br><br>For section 6056:<br><br>* Information about the applicable large employer offering coverage<br>(including contact information for the employer and the number of full-time<br>employees).<br><br>* A list of full-time employees and information about the coverage offered<br>to each, by month, including the cost of self-only coverage.<br><br>Once the final rules have been published, reporting entities will be<br>encouraged to voluntarily implement information reporting in 2014 (when<br>reporting will be optional), in preparation for the full application of the<br>reporting provisions in 2015. Real-world testing of reporting systems in<br>2014 will contribute to a smoother transition to full implementation in<br>2015.<br><br>Press
Release:<br>http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl2157.aspx<br><br>Information Reporting by Applicable Large Employers on Health Insurance<br>Coverage Offered Under Employer-Sponsored Plans:<br><a href="http://federalregister.gov/a/2013-21791" target="_blank">http://federalregister.gov/a/2013-21791</a><br><br>Information Reporting of Minimum Essential Coverage:<br><a href="http://federalregister.gov/a/2013-21783" target="_blank">http://federalregister.gov/a/2013-21783</a><br><br><br>Comment: Here it is folks. These are the proposed ACA rules on reports that<br>insurers and employers must file with the IRS - rules that proved to be so<br>complex that the Obama administration deferred for a year the requirement<br>that these reports be filed. Without these reports, the employer mandate<br>could not be enforced. Though this announcement is about the simplification<br>of the rules, that's not the real story here.<br><br>When the
Act was crafted, it was recognized that health insurance and health<br>care was now so expensive that a majority would require subsidies for<br>insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. It was also recognized that<br>plans would have to provide a defined set of minimal "essential health<br>benefits." It was also recognized that many individuals would not buy health<br>plans for themselves unless they were threatened with a financial penalty<br>for failing to do so.<br><br>It was decided that the Internal Revenue Service was best suited to<br>administer these subsidies and penalties since they already had income<br>information that would establish eligibility for the income-indexed<br>subsidies. They were also in a position to use the tax system to assess<br>penalties for non-compliance. But there are so many variables that the rule<br>making process was overwhelmed. Even these new rules issued yesterday are<br>not yet final and are open to public
comment.<br><br>If you just glance at the few changes to simplify the rules (listed above),<br>you will see that even they are quite complex. By the time that the<br>multitude of variables for each individual are taken into consideration, you<br>will see that the bureaucracy is living up to its reputation for complexity<br>that induces intolerable frustrations. This isn't even necessary. This<br>system is yet another administrative nightmare in a health care system that<br>is unique in all the world for its profound administrative waste.<br><br>If you are masochistic and want to research this yourself, here are some<br>resources. Sec. 1502 of the Affordable Care Act amends Part III of<br>Subchapter A of Chapter 61 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by adding<br>Subpart D - Sec. 6055 on the reporting of health insurance coverage. Sec.<br>1514 of the Affordable Care Act amends Subpart D that was just added by Sec.<br>1502, by inserting after Sec. 6055
the new section - Sec. 6056. So look up<br>Sec. 1502 and Sec. 1514 in the Affordable Care Act. The newest proposed<br>rules, which are the subject of the Department of the Treasury release on<br>simplification of the rules (reported above), are available now online and<br>will be formally published in the Federal Register on September 9, 2013. The<br>proposed rules, "Information Reporting by Applicable Large Employers on<br>Health Insurance Coverage Offered Under Employer-Sponsored Plans," are 72<br>pages (link above). The proposed rules, "Information Reporting of Minimum<br>Essential Coverage," are 42 pages (link above).<br><br>Think of how much simpler it would be if we established a single national<br>fund to pay for all reasonable health care for everyone and then funded it<br>with progressive taxes. The tax system is already in place. We could tweak<br>it so that it is even more equitable. Just think of the administrative<br>simplification that we
could have, as opposed to the exceedingly meager<br>changes announced yesterday in the highly complex system established by ACA.<br><br>Yes, the more we see of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the<br>more we realize that a single payer national health program is an<br>imperative. All we have to do is fix Medicare so it works better, and then<br>include everyone.<br>-------------- next part --------------<br>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>URL:<br><<a href="http://two.pairlist.net/pipermail/quote-of-the-day/attachments/20130906/e07" target="_blank">http://two.pairlist.net/pipermail/quote-of-the-day/attachments/20130906/e07</a><br>75216/attachment.htm><br><br>------------------------------<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Quote-of-the-day mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Quote-of-the-day@mccanne.org" ymailto="mailto:Quote-of-the-day@mccanne.org">Quote-of-the-day@mccanne.org</a><br><a
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