Onsite Coverage: Deal With It: Obamacare a Fact of LIfe

WASHINGTON — It’s time to face facts: Obamacare is coming at you and there is no rational reason to think it won’t.

That was the giant takeaway from a CUNA GAC breakout session offered Tuesday by Brad Pricer, senior product manager for employee benefits at CUNA Mutual Group.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is constitutional, in a 5-4 decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Add in the November election results and, said Pricer, the train has left the station and it is time for credit unions to look hard at what they need to do to ensure compliance with a law that imposes fines on businesses that are not compliant.

Pricer stressed that the law and its requirements are complex. Credit unions, he said, need to work with their brokers to find their best options. He also pointed to a CUNA Mutual website that features detailed information as well as worksheets.

The website, he said, is open to all credit unions, regardless of their relationships with CUNA Mutual.

Not offering healthcare coverage – and deciding to pay fines – is an option some businesses may decide is their most prudent options, said Pricer, but he stressed: “What impact would this have on your competitive position as an employer of choice?”

He indicated that he believed talented employees will be very mindful of their healthcare options in choosing where to work.

A sweeping change in coverage that, said Pricer, is rewriting employer health plans is a shift away from defined benefit plans to what Pricer called defined contribution plans, where how much the employer will pay, for what coverage, is central. Employees who desire enhanced coverages may be offered opportunities to buy them at their own expense.

Because many thought Obamacare might go away before it had to be implemented, many delayed taking steps towards giving it form, but that time, said Pricer, has ended. Hard deadlines are coming up over the next couple years and credit unions will be expected to know about them, he said.

Also from 2013 GAC: