September 17, 2013
To All Employees:
Please take a minute to read the short but important “Notice of Coverage Options” that is attached. This Notice provides information about the new Health Insurance Marketplaces (originally called “Exchanges”) that will be available in every state as part of Health Care Reform. Exchanges in all states must begin open enrollment on October 1, 2013 and begin operations on January 1, 2014.
Beaver County School District is not discontinuing your health coverage or encouraging you to buy health insurance in the Marketplace. We are required by law to send you this Notice, but we also think it is important that you know about the new Marketplace, for several reasons:
· The Marketplaces are a new way for people to buy individual health insurance in 2014 and beyond.
· Under the Individual Mandate, you will be assessed an extra tax when you file your individual taxes, if you do not obtain health coverage for yourself and your dependents starting January 1, 2014. (decide whether to keep or delete the highlighted information about the Individual Mandate tax)
o The tax in 2014 is the greater of: $95.00 per person per year or 1% of your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (with a cap at the national average premium for Bronze coverage).
o The tax in 2015 is the greater of: $325.00 per person per year or 2% of your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (with a cap at the national average premium for Bronze coverage)
o The tax in 2016 is the greater of: $695.00 per person per year or 2.5% of your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (with a cap at the national average premium for Bronze coverage)
o The tax in 2017 is not yet set.
o Additionally, in all years the maximum tax for a family is 3 x the individual rate (e.g., 3 x $95 = $285, in 2014), and the maximum penalty for a child under age 18 is 50% of the regular penalty.
· While you (as an employee) will be able to buy insurance in the Marketplace, you will not be eligible for a premium tax credit or for reduced cost-sharing if you have employer coverage available that is “affordable” and provides “minimum value.” (These terms are defined in the attached Notice.) Our group health coverage does provide minimum value, and it does meet the affordability test for all employees who are eligible for district health insurance coverage. Employees who work an average of 30 or more hours per week for the entire school year are eligible for health insurance coverage.
· If you are considering buying health insurance in the Marketplace anyway, rather than enrolling in the Beaver County School District group health plan, you probably will have to give the Marketplace enrollers the information on pages 2 & 3 of the attached Notice (regarding your employer coverage that is available).
· If you later terminate employment with Beaver County School District, you will likely find it less expensive to buy health insurance in the Marketplace than to extend your coverage under COBRA. COBRA will still exist but you may want to compare your COBRA coverage and rates with Marketplace policies and rates.
Please keep a copy of this Notice in a safe place, as you may want to refer to it at a later date. It is not a required annual notice, but we may decide to distribute it annually or periodically. It is also available on our internet website at www.beaver.k12.ut.us and our Payroll, Benefits, & Human Resource Management website link.
**See notification form available for download at bottom of this web page.