Congress has recently postponed a major requirement of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as “Obama Care”, that was set to begin January 1, 2014.  This requirement stated that employers with more than 50 full-time employees or full-time equivalent employees must provide health care coverage that is “affordable” and provides “minimum value”.  This requirement will now go into effect January 1, 2015.  However, Congress has not postponed the requirement that all individuals must be covered under a health plan starting January 1, 2014.  So, even if your employer does not offer a plan, you are self-employed, or you are unemployed, you are required to have a plan by January 1, 2014.

If you are one of the 25% of Americans who don’t have health insurance you have two options if you want to avoid penalty: you can buy health insurance from a standard health insurance company or you can buy health insurance from the state-run health insurance exchange, provided you qualify.  If you fail to do either of these you will be assessed a penalty on your 2014 1040, which is due April 15, 2015.  The attitude in Washington is that this is at the forefront of everyone’s minds.  I wish they could step outside the Beltway every now and then.

Gregory M. Daniels, CPA
Daniels Group CPA, PLC
Phone: (248) 855-8400
Cell: (248) 635-7564
www.danielsgroupcpa.com

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