The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, provides employees who are not offered health coverage by their employers with the option of purchasing health coverage through new health insurance marketplaces (or ‘Exchanges’) that will operate in every state.
Employees who have employer-based coverage options have the choice of taking that coverage or purchasing coverage from the Exchange instead. The Affordable Care Act requires employers to provide all employees with a written notice of the new Exchange option by October 1, 2013. While the Exchanges will not open until fall, and the coverage they offer will not start until January 1, 2014, the Department of Labor (DOL) has announced that notices for current employees must be provided by October 1, 2013.
The DOL has provided employers with two template notices found below. Employers may provide current employees with one of these notices or create their own version that includes the mandatory items listed in the templates:
1) Employers that offer health coverage to some or all employees – https://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/FLSAwithplans.pdf
2) Employers that do not offer health care coverage – https://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/FLSAwithoutplans.pdf
Employers must provide each current employee with a notice of coverage options by October 1, 2013 and to each new employee hired after October 1, 2013 within 14 days of the start of their employment.
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