Ocean City Today
4A NEWS
MARCH 15, 2013
Resort will shuffle staff for ACA ZACK HOOPES ■ Staff Writer
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(March 15, 2013) With 2013 being used as the “test” year to determine one’s obligations once the 2014 implementation of the Affordable Care Act – popularly known as “Obamacare” – rolls around, the Town of Ocean City will likely be doing some major re-shuffling of staff this coming season to avoid adding some employees to its health care plan. “We are really having to get very creative as to how to estimate additional staff this summer, and what it may come down to is having twice as many part-time personnel as we used to,” said Ocean City Fire Department Chief Chris Larmore, whose department will likely be one of the most heavily affected. “There is an immense amount of time currently going into figuring that out.” The key tenet of the federal legislation creates a “pay or play” system that encourages employers to provide affordable health plans to their employees. Specifically, a $2,000 per employee, per year penalty will be imposed on all large businesses that do not provide their full-time employees with appropriate health coverage, beginning Jan. 1, 2014. In order to qualify as being adequate, an employee’s coverage must not cost more than 9.5 percent of their wages, but cover at least 60 percent of projected av-
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erage health care costs. “Large businesses” are classified as those who have more than 50 full-time employees, or the equivalent in part-time workers’ hours, which the Town of Ocean City obviously has. But what will matter for the resort is the element of the federal statute that requires to whom exactly such a “large employer” must provide insurance. Under the ACA, any employee “reasonably expected” to work 30 or more hours per week must be provided necessary coverage if their employer is of adequate size. This coverage must be provided within 90 days of employment, meaning that all those who work for more than three months qualify. Under the current interpretation of the law, issued by the IRS, any employee who works more than 1,560 hours in 2013 (30 hours per week, multiplied by 52 weeks per year) will qualify for coverage beginning in 2014. According to City Manager David Recor’s budget presentation earlier this month, 47 city employees who are currently not considered full-time are expected to meet the ACA threshold to receive health benefits. In order to avoid paying the penalty for these employees – or change its health plan to accommodate their costs and incomes – the city will have to keep their hours under the threshold this year.
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