IRS Begins Issuing Regulations Under PPACA
The Internal Revenue Service has begun issuing regulations implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the federal health reform law. You can expect to see new regulations under the law coming out monthly for the remainder of the year. At a recent speech to the American Health Lawyers Association, a spokesperson for CMS said that HHS is presently drafting 18 sets of new regulations that have to be in effect duri ng 2010, compared to its normal output of 2 - 3 sets.
The IRS's first rules relate to extending dependent coverage under a parent's health insurance to include children up to age 26.
PPACA requires that all group plans extend a parent's right to include a child on the parent's health plan coverage until the child reaches age 26, regardless of whether or not the child is actually a "dependent" or whether he or she is married. The only real resatriction is that the child cannot be eligible for coverage under an employer-sponsored plan ithrough the child's workplace. The law goes into effect for all plan years beginning after September 23, 2010, although many private insurance companies have begun offering such coverage already in order to pick up recent college graduates.
The second set of IRS guidelines relates to the tax credits available to a small business (under 25 FTE employees) for up to 35% of the employer's cost of providing health insurance coverage for its employees. The IRS explains how to determine if your business is eligible for the credits, by calculating the number of "FTE employees" and the average compensation, the threshold tests for eligibility. The credit is available to qualifying businesses for the years 2010 - 2013.
