The cost of medical care in the United States has skyrocketed and is still on an incline. It is no wonder than many employees want their employer to offer a health care plan to help offset some of those medical expenses. If you work for a small business, your employer does not have to offer health insurance. Large employers are required by federal law to offer health insurance to their employees.
The Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a federal law that requires large employers to offer health insurance to employees. The ACA defines a large employer as one with 50 full-time equivalent employees. Full-time equivalent employees means that the employer must have employees whose hours are equal to that of 50 full-time employees. For example, if you have 100 part-time employees that work half days, that is equivalent to 50 full-time employees.
If you work for a large employer that does not offer health insurance, they will be fined a penalty. Some employers choose to not offer health insurance because the penalty is cheaper than paying a portion of each employee’s health insurance premium. Employers are required to report the number of paid employees to the IRS. If you think that your employer is falsifying records to get out of offering health insurance or paying a penalty, you should file a complaint with the IRS.
Small Businesses
Many small businesses offer health insurance to their employees, but they are not legally required to. If they offer coverage one year but not the next, they will not be penalized for not offering the coverage. The good news is that there are a lot of small employers that offer health insurance on a voluntary basis. So, if your employer refuses to offer health insurance and it is important to you, it may be to your benefit to look elsewhere for a new job.
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