The percentage used to determine whether or not employer sponsored health insurance is affordable for purposes of employer shared responsibility will increase to 9.86% for 2019.
Under the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions, large employers who do not offer affordable, minimum value coverage face potential penalties if full-time employees qualify for subsidies to buy health insurance in the Marketplace. Employer-sponsored coverage is considered “affordable” if the portion that the employee is required to pay for the lowest cost, self-only coverage does not exceed a certain percentage of the employee’s household income (or a percentage of one of the three safe-harbors: W-2, rate of pay, or Federal Poverty Line for a single individual. Section 4980H(b) estimate of penalty for failure to offer affordable, minimum-value coverage will be $3,750 per employee (or $312.50 per month), up from $3,480 (or $290 per month) in 2018.
For 2019 calendar-year plans using the federal poverty level (FPL) safe harbor to determine affordability, an employee’s premium payment can’t exceed $99.75 per month, up from $96.08 per month in 2018.
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