Bill would ease compliance burdens of health insurance paperwork on U.S. employers

The Employer Reporting Improvement Act would protect Americans’ privacy and ease compliance burdens on employers.

The legislation would modernize communication by allowing employers to electronically file certain documents and also protect privacy by clarifying that the IRS can accept full names and dates of birth in lieu of dependents’ and spouses’ Social Security numbers. The bill would ease compliance burdens by extending the time period (from 30 days to 90 days) during which an applicable large employer can appeal a penalty for not offering adequate, affordable health insurance to all full-time employees. Finally, it would enact a six-year statute of limitations for the IRS to levy penalties under the Employer Shared Responsibility provision of the ACA.

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner of Virginia, John Thune of South Dakota, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Todd Young of Indian introduced this and a second piece of legislation that would protect Americans’ privacy and remove burdensome and bureaucratic reporting requirements in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) by allowing certain communications to be electronically filed. Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed companion legislation for the Employer Reporting Improvement Act and the Paperwork Burden Reduction Act.

“The Affordable Care Act was a seismic achievement in expanding access to health care, but it’s still incumbent on Congress to make sure it’s working as smoothly as possible for the Americans and businesses that it serves,” Warner said. “These two bipartisan bills will take important steps forward to modernize and streamline compliance requirements while protecting privacy, so that more Americans and employers can access and deploy benefits without getting entangled in red tape.”

The other piece of legislation, The Paperwork Burden Reduction Act, would reduce the number of physical forms that employers have to mail to employees as part of complying with the ACA. Employers and health insurance providers that provide minimum essential coverage must report this information to the IRS for each covered individual and provide a copy of this information to the covered individual by January 31 of each year. Current IRS regulations allow employers to provide only 1095-B forms electronically. The Paperwork Burden Reduction Act would codify the current IRS policy by allowing the 1095-B to be provided electronically and would extend this to 1095-C, limiting unnecessary physical paperwork.

“Small businesses in South Dakota and across the country have been forced to comply with overly burdensome administrative requirements from the Affordable Care Act,” Thune said. “These bills would eliminate convoluted paperwork and streamline the current reporting requirements to ensure businesses can focus their resources on serving their customers and employees.”

According to Cortez Masto, lawmakers need to make it as easy as possible for businesses “to provide workers with high-quality health care without forcing them to jump through unnecessary hoops. Our bipartisan bills will reduce unnecessary paperwork burdening businesses, and I will continue working to cut through red tape and help Nevadans access high quality health care.”

“Under current law, overreaching compliance requirements create uncertainty and stress for employers in Indiana and across the nation. Our bipartisan bills will help reduce these unnecessary burdens and increase efficiency,” Young said.