Some Health Law Provisions Raising Questions, Costs
News outlets examined how Medicaid costs may be affected by the ACA, and the dilemma the law poses for some IRS rules.
Bloomberg: Obamacare Raises Medicaid Cost As Insurers Shift Tax Bill
Health insurers told to pay $150 billion in taxes over a decade to help fund Obamacare are now shifting at least part of that cost back to taxpayers. Congress passed the insurer tax four years ago to help cover the uninsured under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. .. The strategy may add $36 billion to $39 billion to the cost of Medicaid over a decade, depending on how quickly the health program expands, according to an industry-funded study released today by the actuarial firm Milliman Inc. (Nussbaum, 2/12).
Politico Pro: Some Jobs Pose ACA Rules Quandaries
What do flight attendants, cruise ship workers and temps have in common? They’re all making life complicated for Obamacare bureaucrats at the IRS. The IRS’s decision to slow-walk the health law’s requirements for businesses over the next two years is still sinking in. But it’s increasingly clear that the law’s intent — that businesses with 50 or more employees offer health coverage to full-time workers — will only work with exemptions, carve-outs and creative interpretations to accommodate the complexities of the 21st century workforce (Cheney, 2/11).