In
a 5-4 judgment accompanied by 193 pages of a very confusing network of
concurring and dissenting opinions, the United States Supreme Court this
morning upheld all but one part of the Obama administration’s signature health
care reform initiative passed by Congress in 2010. The Court’s judgment strikes
the Obamacare provision penalizing states which decide not to join in the new
law’s expansion of Medicaid assistance to the needy. Everything else is left
intact.
Of
course, the Republican Party’s political attacks on Obamacare are continuing,
with presidential candidate Mitt Romney vowing to sign legislation repealing
Obamacare in its entirety should he be elected and his party take control of
both houses of Congress in the November election and send a repeal bill to him
in the Oval Office. Unless that happens, Obamacare is now clearly the law of
the land, and it’s time to think seriously about how it is going to affect your
construction business.
Here’s
the scoop:
1.
The
already effective prohibitions on denying coverage to children for pre-existing
conditions, and requiring insurers to let parents keep their children covered
until age 26 remain in effect.
2.
As
of 2014, everyone will be required to buy health insurance – individually or
through an employer – or pay a penalty about equal to the cost of obtaining
health insurance.
3.
As
of 2014, no one can be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition.
4.
As
of 2014, annual policy limits on coverage are eliminated.
5.
As
of 2014, lifetime policy limits on coverage are eliminated.
If
you are in the construction business, and employ union skilled labor, you will
still have to pay into union health and welfare funds, but the per-tradesperson
cost of participation may go down a little bit. If your company already
provides health insurance for you and your family, and the non-union employees
in the office and in the field, your per-person and per-family premiums may
also go down a little. If your company does not currently provide health
insurance for non-union employees, it might become economically feasible for
you to do so when the penalty for not having coverage kicks in in 2014. If
everybody in the company needs to participate, your group may get large enough
to save everyone some money on health coverage through the company rather than
in the individual market.
Either
way, if you have coverage through your company for yourself and your family,
but not for other non-union employees, you still won’t be able to deduct health
insurance premiums as a business expense on your business tax return.
Lawyers,
politicians, pundits and other folks will be debating the intricacies of the
Court’s 193 pages of legal jargon for weeks and months to come. The law will
remain a campaign issue right through the November elections, with Republican
candidates hollering for repeal, and Democratic candidates screaming doomsday
for health care if Republican’s win the election. Whether or not the new law is
repealed after November, the effect on your construction business will be
minimal either way: if Obamacare remains in effect, your business might save a
few bucks on health coverage for you and your employees; if not, nothing
changes except that preexisting condition exclusions, annual policy limits and
lifetime policy limits won’t be going away. All in all, it’s much ado about
nothing.
