The Internal Revenue Service needs to greatly expand the numberof wellness plan incentivesthat will count towards the“affordability” standard to which corporations will be held by thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

So argued the 1,500-member-strong ERISA Industry Committee in aletter this month to the IRS. The federal tax agency isresponsible for overseeing corporate compliance with theaffordability requirement of the PPACA.

Expanding the list wouldn't take much; it's currently a list ofone.

The cost of smoking cessation programs is the only wellness planincentive employers can count toward the 9.5 percent affordabilityceiling when (and if) the act takes full effect as now scheduled in2015.

The idea behind the incentive is to give employers whoworkersquit smoking a bonus for doing so.

The program cost is subtracted from the overall cost of coveragewhen the IRS crunches the numbers to see whether an employer hasoffered an employee coverage that is less than 9.5 percent of hisor her household income.

ERIC believes there are many more incentives that should becounted so that companies are encouraged to offer more of theseopportunities to improve worker health.

“ERIC urges the IRS to modify the proposed rules to provide thatthe value of all wellness incentives, and not just those related totobacco use, are taken into account for purposes of determiningaffordability of an employer-sponsored plan and whether the planprovides minimum value,” the letter stated.

“Under the current proposal, affordability of anemployer-sponsored plan and whether a plan provides minimum valueare determined without taking wellness incentives into account, except those relating totobacco use.”

In the letter, ERIC President Scott Macey and ERIC Senior VicePresident for Health Policy Gretchen Young underscored the need toreward companies that go the extra mile for employee health.

“The selective recognition of wellness incentives, as proposedin these regulations, discourages the most effective and efficientuse of wellness programs by those employees who would most benefitfrom incentives to become healthier,” they said. “Companies shouldnot be penalized for trying to reduce the cost of health carethrough the effective use of wellness programs that comply with allthe protections and safety valves required in the final wellnessregulation.”

To date, ERIC has not received a response from the IRS, ERICspokesman Ted Godbout said.

This article was originally posted at LifeHealthPro.com, a sister site of CreditUnion Times.