AUGUSTA — Speakers at a forum for businesses Tuesday on the Affordable Care Act said navigating changes to the federal health care law in 2016 will require strict attention to detail and quite likely the advice of a team of consultants.

The Maine State Chamber of Commerce hosted the Federal Health Care Reform Summit on Tuesday, attended by about 70 people, in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at the Senator Inn & Spa to shed some light on how the changes will affect hundreds of Maine businesses in the coming months.

“We have clients who are waiting for this to go away,” said Michael Deschaine, president of Cross Employee Benefits.

Deschaine was joined on the discussion panel by Jeff Lungren, chief health care and immigration lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Kristine Ossenfort, director of government relations for Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield; and Janet Britton, an attorney at Verill Dana who specializes in employment issues.

Since the law took effect in 2010, provisions of it have been challenged at the state and federal level. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a provision that provides for subsidies for those who qualify for individual insurance coverage under the act.

What keeps Deschaine up at night are the elements of the employer mandate that go into effect next month.

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Under the law, more companies are going to be considered applicable large employers. Through this year, companies with 100 or more employees were, as applicable large employers, required to offer health insurance plans. In 2016, the threshold drops to 50 employees, and in addition to meeting health care provision requirements, those companies also have to report details of 2015 insurance coverage to the IRS.

Complicating matters in Maine is the number of companies that rely on seasonal or part-time employees or workers — all of which are defined differently under the law and which, if calculated incorrectly, could result in substantial penalties for employers. In addition, the Affordable Care Act deems anyone who works 30 hours a week to be a full-time employee, but in nearly all other cases, a full-time employee works 40 hours a week.

“What’s going on is mass confusion,” Deschaine said.

The panel fielded submitted questions that ranged from whether any software exists to track employee status to the intricacies of reporting new information to the IRS to understanding how common ownership rules of multiple entities apply to the requirement to provide insurance.

Even as companies, lawyers, accountants and insurers are working to meet the new requirements, another possible change to the law could come in about 11 months with the 2016 presidential election.

“How this plays out depends on who is the nominee and what is their plan,” Lungren said. “Somehow, if the GOP gets a full sweep of the president, Senate and House, that could open up the Affordable Care Act to repeal and replacement.”

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To date, he said, Republican lawmakers have been further along on repeal than replacement. But one of the positive outcomes of the Supreme Court decision was that it prompted congressional Republicans to start figuring out what an alternate plan would be, Lungren said.

Jessica Lowell — 621-5632

jlowell@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @JLowellKJ


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