Date: January 17, 2014 at 12:33:54 EST
Subject: Response from Senator Casey
Thank you for taking the time to contact me about the employer responsibility provision of the Affordable Care Act. I appreciate hearing from you about this issue.
Over the next several years, the Affordable Care Act will extend health insurance coverage to an additional 30 million Americans, ensuring that 95 percent of our Nation has access to quality, affordable care. I recognize that the Affordable Care Act is not perfect, and that some changes may need to be made. However, I believe that this law reflects our Nation’s commitment to ensuring access to health care for all Americans.
The Affordable Care Act does not include a requirement that employers provide health insurance. However, as a matter of fairness, it requires employers with 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees to pay a shared responsibility fee only if they do not provide affordable coverage and taxpayers are supporting the cost of health insurance for their workers through premium tax credits. Ninety-six percent of employers are small businesses that will be exempt from this requirement. As a result of transition relief that was provided to employers by the Department of Treasury, the shared responsibility fee will not be assessed until 2015.
The Department of Treasury has determined that, for tax purposes, volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel are employees of the agencies that they serve. Because the Department of Treasury is also responsible for enforcing the Affordable Care Act’s shared responsibility provision, some local emergency response agencies have raised concerns that volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel might count as employees for the purpose of calculating whether those agencies are subject to the shared responsibility fee.
One bill that is relevant to this issue is S. 1798, the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act. This bill was introduced by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia on December 10, 2013, and would amend the Internal Revenue Code to establish that “qualified emergency services volunteers,” such as volunteer firefighters, should not be counted when determining the number of full-time employees for the Affordable Care Act’s shared responsibility provision. S. 1798 has been referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, of which I am a member.
I recognize the valid concerns raised by volunteer firefighters and emergency response agencies across Pennsylvania about this matter. During a December 2013 Committee on Finance hearing, I secured a commitment from John Koskinen, the new Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), to address this matter quickly. I also joined with a group of Senators in sending a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury expressing concern over how volunteer fire departments could be impacted. This letter expresses the view that it would be fair to use existing standards in the Internal Revenue Code, which allow individuals to receive nominal compensation while still being classified as volunteers, to ensure that volunteer firefighters are not defined as employees for purposes of the shared responsibility provision.
On January 10, 2014, I received a letter from the Department of the Treasury stating that that the concerns raised by volunteer firefighters about the Affordable Care Act are being addressed in the final regulation for the shared responsibility provision. According to the Department of Treasury, the final rule will not generally require volunteer hours of bona fide volunteer firefighters and volunteer emergency medical personnel to be counted when determining the number of full time employees employed by an organization.
The IRS has not yet issued a final rule on this matter. Please be assured that I am monitoring the regulatory process closely, weighing in with the administration where appropriate, and that I will continue to work to ensure that the Affordable Care Act is implemented properly, efficiently and to the benefit of all Americans.
To learn more about what the Affordable Care Act means for Pennsylvania and for you, I encourage you to visit www.healthcare.gov, which has additional information about the specific provisions in the bill and how the legislation will be implemented. If you have further questions about how you and your family will be affected by this legislation, please do not hesitate to contact my office; my staff will be happy to assist you.
Sincerely,
Bob Casey
United States Senator
P.S. If you would like to respond to this message, please use the contact form on my website: http://casey.senate.gov/contact/ " />
