[Fredslist] FYI:Tax-Free Employer-Provided Health Coverage Now
Available for Children under Age 27
Corey Bearak
Bearak at aol.com
Wed Apr 28 08:35:52 EDT 2010
See below for info following adoption of the new federal law.
Corey Bearak, Esq.
Government & Public Affairs Counselor
CoreyBearak.com
Sent from my iPhone
> From: FN-White House Office of Legislative Affairs
> [mailto:WhiteHouse-Office-Legislative-Affairs at who.eop.gov]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 12:36 PM
> To: FN-White House Office of Legislative Affairs
> Subject: Affordable Care Act Implementation: IRS Notice on Health
> Coverage for Adult Children
>
> The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides that health
> coverage under an employee's children under 27 years of age is now
> generally tax-free to the employee, effective March 30, 2010. The
> Internal Revenue Service announced today that these changes
> immediately allow employers with cafeteria plans –– plans that
> allow employees to choose from a menu of tax-free benefit options an
> d cash or taxable benefits –– to permit employees to begin making
> pre-tax contributions to pay for this expanded benefit. Please see
> the press release below, the IRS Notice, and this White House Blog
> Post for more information (also posted below).
>
> Thank you,
>
> White House Office of Legislative Affairs
>
> http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=222193,00.html
>
> Tax-Free Employer-Provided Health Coverage Now Available for
> Children under Age 27
>
>
> IR-2010-53, April 27, 2010
>
> WASHINGTON — As a result of changes made by the recently enacted Aff
> ordable Care Act, health coverage provided for an employee's childre
> n under 27 years of age is now generally tax-free to the employee, e
> ffective March 30, 2010.
> The Internal Revenue Service announced today that these changes
> immediately allow employers with cafeteria plans –– plans that
> allow employees to choose from a menu of tax-free benefit options an
> d cash or taxable benefits –– to permit employees to begin making
> pre-tax contributions to pay for this expanded benefit.
> IRS Notice 2010-38 explains these changes and provides further
> guidance to employers, employees, health insurers and other
> interested taxpayers.
> “These changes give employers a unique opportunity to offer a wo
> rthwhile benefit to their employees,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman
> said. “We want to make it as easy as possible for employers to quick
> ly implement this change and extend health coverage on a tax-favored
> basis to older children of their employees.”
> This expanded health care tax benefit applies to various workplace
> and retiree health plans. It also applies to self-employed
> individuals who qualify for the self-employed health insurance
> deduction on their federal income tax return.
> Employees who have children who will not have reached age 27 by the
> end of the year are eligible for the new tax benefit from March 30,
> 2010, forward, if the children are already covered under the employe
> r’s plan or are added to the employer’s plan at any time. For
> this purpose, a child includes a son, daughter, stepchild, adopted c
> hild or eligible foster child. This new age 27 standard replaces the
> lower age limits that applied under prior tax law, as well as the r
> equirement that a child generally qualify as a dependent for tax pur
> poses.
> The notice says that employers with cafeteria plans may permit
> employees to immediately make pre-tax salary reduction contributions
> to provide coverage for children under age 27, even if the cafeteria
> plan has not yet been amended to cover these individuals. Plan
> sponsors then have until the end of 2010 to amend their cafeteria
> plan language to incorporate this change.
> In addition to changing the tax rules as described above, the
> Affordable Care Act also requires plans that provide dependent
> coverage of children to continue to make the coverage available for
> an adult child until the child turns age 26. The extended coverage
> must be provided not later than plan years beginning on or after
> Sept. 23, 2010. The favorable tax treatment described in the notice
> applies to that extended coverage.
> Information on other health care provisions can be found on this
> website, IRS.gov.
>
> More Support for Young Adults
> Posted by Nancy-Ann DeParle on April 27, 2010 at 12:24 PM EDT
> When health insurance reform became the law of the land, we knew our
> work was just beginning. While passing the law was a tremendous
> accomplishment, the President and his Administration are now focused
> on the next challenge: making sure the law is implemented smoothly,
> quickly, and effectively. In fact, the day after the bill passed,
> the first thing the President asked of his senior staff was “Where a
> re we on implementation?”
> One of the most important provisions in health reform for young
> adults and their families is the new provision that allows young
> adults to stay on their parents’ health care plan until age 26. Thi
> s provision takes effect on September 23, 2010, and it could help mo
> re than 4.7 million uninsured young Americans.
> But we knew that some young adults graduating from college this
> spring could risk losing their health insurance before the provision
> takes effect, only to be added back onto their parents’ policy the n
> ext time their parents’ plan comes up for renewal on or after Septem
> ber 23rd. That was bad news for families and bad news for insurance
> companies too. Removing an individual from a health insurance plan
> and then adding them back on a few months later takes time, and it
> costs money.
> That’s why on April 19, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
> Sebelius called on leading insurance companies to begin covering yo
> ung adults voluntarily before the September 23 implementation date r
> equired by the new health reform law. Early implementation would av
> oid gaps in coverage for new college graduates and other young adult
> s and save on insurance company administrative costs of dis-enrollin
> g and re-enrolling them between May 2010 and September 23, 2010. E
> arly enrollment will also enable young, overwhelmingly healthy peopl
> e who will not engender large insurance costs to stay in the insuran
> ce pool.
> And we’re pleased to report that the following insurance companies a
> re doing just that:
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama
> Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona, Inc.
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida
> Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Hawaii
> Blue Shield of California
> Blue Cross of Idaho Health Service
> Regence Blue Shield of Idaho
> Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa
> Health Care Service Corporation
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas
> Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana
> WellPoint, Inc.
> CareFirst BlueCross and BlueShield
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska
> Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi
> Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey, Inc.
> HealthNow New York, Inc.
> The Regence Group
> Excellus Blue Cross and Blue Shield
> Capital BlueCross
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
> Independence Blue Cross
> BlueCross BlueShield of North Dakota
> Highmark, Inc.
> Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania
> BlueCross and BlueShield of Tennessee
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont
> Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island
> Premera Blue Cross
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina
> Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Wyoming
> Kaiser Permanente
> Cigna
> Aetna
> United
> WellPoint
> Humana
> Capital District Physicians’ Health Plan (CDPHP), Albany, New York
> Capital Health Plan, Tallahassee, Florida
> Care Oregon, Portland, Oregon
> Emblem Health, New York, New York
> Fallon Community Health Plan, Worcester, Massachusetts
> Geisinger Health Plan, Danville, Pennsylvania
> Group Health, Seattle, Washington
> Group Health Cooperative Of South Central Wisconsin, Madison,
> Wisconsin
> Health Partners, Minneapolis, Minnesota
> Independent Health, Buffalo, New York
> Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Oakland, California
> Martin’s Point Health Care, Portland, Maine
> New West Health Services, Helena, Mt
> The Permanente Federation, Oakland, California
> Priority Health, Grand Rapids, Michigan
> Scott & White Health Plan, Temple, Texas
> Security Health Plan, Marshfield, Wisconsin
> Tufts Health Plan, Waltham, Massachusetts
> UCARE, Minneapolis, Minnesota
> UPMC Health Plan, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
> Today, we marked another step forward in our work to provide
> coverage to young adults with the release of new guidance from the
> Internal Revenue Service specifically stating that children can be
> covered tax-free now on their parents' health insurance policy. The
> new guidance also discusses incentives the Affordable Care Act
> provides for employers to immediately extend health insurance
> coverage to young adults.
> This new guidance will help employers as they work to provide better
> benefits to their employees and cover more Americans. To learn
> more, check out the press release and fact sheet (pdf).
> Nancy-Ann DeParle is Director of the White House Office of Health
> Reform
>
>
>
> Corey B. Bearak, Esq.
> Government & Public Affairs Counselor
> PO Box 135, Glen Oaks, NY 11004
> (718) 343-6779 * fax: (718) 225-3366
> Bearak at aol.com CoreyBearak,com Bearak onTwitter
>
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