No one was think­ing about it when the ACA passed in 2010, since it is not due to go into effect until 2018. Seemed like a time far away, but now…so the IRS has issued Notice 2015–16 which describes sev­er­al pos­si­ble approach­es for imple­ment­ing this excise tax on high cost employ­er spon­sored health care plans. Notice high­lights are:

  • Health Reim­burse­ment Accounts (HRA) and exec­u­tive phys­i­cal pro­grams will be con­sid­ered as applic­a­ble employ­er spon­sored plans
  • Cov­er­age offered through on site med­ical clin­ics that offer only de min­imis health cov­er­age is like­ly to be excluded
  • EAP, den­tal and vision pro­grams are like­ly to be excluded
  • Employ­er and employ­ee pre tax con­tri­bu­tions to Health Sav­ings Accounts are expect­ed to be treat­ed as applic­a­ble coverage
  • The IRS will look to COBRA’s exist­ing applic­a­ble pre­mi­um rules for valu­ing the cost of employ­er spon­sored coverage
  • The Notice out­lines sev­er­al pos­si­ble approach­es for cal­cu­la­tion of the cost of cov­er­age for HRAs and seeks com­ment on the poten­tial approaches

None of this is def­i­nite. The IRS is seek­ing pub­lic com­ment to see what ser­vices and fees are to be includ­ed for purposes

Jor­dan Shields