American Staffing Association (12/16/14) Edward A. Lenz

ASA has filed comments on proposed regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regarding “minimum value” health plans under the Affordable Care Act. The proposed rule, which was published in the Federal Register on Nov. 26, would provide “transition relief” for employers that committed to non-hospital/non-physician (“MVP”) plans before Nov. 1, 2014. In its comments, ASA urges that the government grant relief even if an employer had not finalized its plan arrangements by the Nov. 1 cutoff date as long as it had made substantial progress in doing so. The comments also urge that similar relief be extended to any staffing firm that elected not to offer MVP plans for legitimate business reasons (e.g., because they believed the coverage was inadequate), or because it could not find major medical coverage in the current insurance market. You can read the ASA comments at americanstaffing.net.