OBAMACARE HAS MANY SURPRISE FEES THAT 'TAX' AMERICA

Submitted by: Debbie Beatty

The following is an article in a local paper, the St Augustine Record, about the 'surprise' for the St Johns County School budget brought about by the 'Affordable Care Act.' If this small a school district is hit for $435,000 in new fees, consider the impact in larger ( and poorer) districts across the nation. Consider also what that total in new fees is across the nation.

Yep, good thing no one read that monstrosity before they passed it all right. Thanks a pant load Ms Pelosi.        rfmc

Affordable Care surprise: Unexpected fees 

  By MARCIA LANE

For school district, that means $435,000 in new fees; unanswered question: Who will pay?

As St. Johns County School District officials face the expanding Affordable Care Act, they’re looking for ways to fund at least an additional $435,000 in fees that are tied in with the act.

The district hasn’t made a decision on who will pay — the district or employees.

“One of the key pieces (about the Affordable Care Act) is we don’t know all the answers yet,” said Tim Forson, the district’s deputy superintendent for operations. “What does seem to be on the horizon for us are fees that are part of the Affordable Health Care Act.”

Detailed clarifications on the guidelines and requirements of the Act are still coming down from the federal government at least several times a week.

Expected was a $1 per person fee for Patient Centered Outcome Research or PCOR. That’s due this July and for the school district works out to about $6,700 for the first year. Next year the fee doubles to $2 per person, and is in effect through 2018. Money funds the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, which was created to improve informed health decisions.

But it wasn’t until November of last year that the government informed employers there would be a $63 per person fee for reinsurance beginning in 2014. For the district, it works out to $428,000-plus for the first year. Reinsurance is to help stabilize premiums for coverage in the individual market.

“It’s still to be determined who will ultimately pay,” Forson said. Whether the district bears the cost or the individuals in the program, that fee has to come out annually for three years.

The feds say the fee will decrease in 2015 and 2016 although they’re not saying by how much.

The fee question is one of many facing the district.

Forson said he expects it will take either additional personnel and/or duty shifts to cope with work related to the health care act.

Starting next year, most U.S. citizens and legal residents have to get insurance coverage or pay a penalty.

That’s not a problem for school employees who opt to buy into the district’s coverage, which meets the ACA guidelines of being “affordable.”

The district is self-insured, a plan that has worked well in part because of a district insurance committee that works with The Bailey Group in closely overseeing the district’s insurance program that has initiated a number of innovations including district health clinics.

“They’re tweaking the plan, trying to keep up with the trend of increases in health care costs,” said Mark Bailey, president of The Bailey Group.

These days the committee and the district are also grappling with the additional complexities and requirements of the act, which was signed into law in 2010 by President Barack Obama and is referred to by some as “ObamaCare.”

Currently approximately 6,700 people are in the district’s health program. About 3,200 are employees with the others dependents, Forson said. Blue Cross is the district’s insurance carrier.

Bailey describes the health care implementation as “fluid.”

“Most of the provisions began to affect employers in 2010,” Bailey said. That includes one that covers children up to the age of 26 even if they are employed and not technically a dependent.

As the plan advances the feds are “closing loopholes” and providing additional information and interpretations of what rules mean and how they apply, he said. No less than once a week his 40-member staff meets for a couple of hours to discuss changes and how they affect clients. Those meetings are supplemented by ongoing discussions during the week as more clarifications and details come down from the government

At a recent school board workshop one of the issues under discussion was how many substitutes may be eligible for insurance coverage. That population includes teachers and bus drivers.

“We are currently in the process of analyzing the data to determine how many individuals in the substitute category will need to be offered coverage and further what the financial impact will be on the district,” Bailey said.