What are HHA, agencies, hospices going to do with ACA?

[SuzieVN]

From all I read, none provide benefits. With ACA, and 50+ employees, businesses will have to provide coverage or pay the fine. Any talk of what they all plan to do? Pay the fine? Offer coverage that is simply not affordable, in efect- not provide coverage?

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

With over 350 employees, my HHA employer has tightened its financial belt and will continue to provide healthcare benefits (HMO and PPO option, same as our health system) covering 85% cost--similar to other health systems in Philadelphia area.

[SuzieVN]

A HHA with 350 employees?? I just can't wrap my haed around that one. That seems 'gigantic' to me.

[salvadordolly]

I'm part of an HHA with about 150 employees, only 25 are full-time. My administrator tells me she is going to pay the fines and that health insurance is still way out of her range. I'm interested in the responses to this too.

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

I heard this on the news today, small companies may eliminate or reduce the number of full time employees and just go with a larger number of part timers.

[MunoRN, RN]

Of the business sectors out there, HHA's have little to complain about when it comes to having to spend on health insurance. Home health is one of the highest profit sectors of healthcare with profit margins that exceed 20%. For comparison; Nike, Dell, and HP all run 5-8% profit margins.

[MunoRN, RN]

I heard this on the news today, small companies may eliminate or reduce the number of full time employees and just go with a larger number of part timers.

The law doesn't actually allow that. If you have 51 Full time employees working 30 hours a week and you change that to 102 employees working 15 hours a week, your FTE does not change and you're still considered to be a "large employer" with 51 FTE's, regardless of how many employees make up these FTE's.