Idaho business owners recently gathered for a healthcare forum discussion, and some of the issues and questions brought up may be the same ones that company owners throughout the country have.
As reported by the Idaho Falls Times-News, the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is causing many to debate how they'll conduct their employee benefit plan administration.
"Businesses are going to have to change their strategy," said Stephen Cilley, a forum panelist and CEO of a professional employer organization based in Boise, the paper reported.
That's because according to the rules that govern the PPACA, business owners who have fewer than 50 employees and opt not to offer health insurance may face a $2,000 penalty for every full-time employee that's not offered coverage. Certain idiosyncrasies of the law, though, enable businesses to exempt their first 30 employees, so the penalty would only be for 20 non-covered employees from a company that employs 50 workers.
While this penalty may be a disincentive for companies to drop health plans, company owners also believe that doing this would hurt their recruitment practices as well. Employee benefits are something business owners often use to attract the best potential employment candidates to apply for open positions.
