IRS to propose rules clarifying ACA penalties

The Internal Revenue Service has drafted a collection of proposed regulations that could determine whether some taxpayers will owe fines for failing to get health coverage.

The individual mandate section in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires some taxpayers who fail to own a minimum amount of major medical coverage, or “minimum essential coverage,” to pay the fines.

Some sections in the proposed IRS regulations will exempt some people in limited-benefit government programs from paying the fines.

Those affected include state programs for the medically needy, Medicaid pilot programs, and two programs that give people some access to military health care services.

The IRS assumes many enrollees are confused.

HHS Releases 2014 Federal Poverty Level Guidelines

HHS has released 2014 federal poverty guidelines.  Updated annually for inflation, the 2014 guidelines will set the income thresholds for subsidy eligibility on exchanges for 2015. The threshold (in the 48 contiguous states and DC) for one person will be $11,670, an $180 increase over the 2013 level.  An employee's receipt of exchange subsidies could trigger an employer shared responsibility penalty starting in 2015.  IRS proposed rules include an employer affordability safe harbor based on the federal poverty level.

Rules on equal coverage delayed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is delaying enforcement of a provision of the new healthcare law that prohibits employers from providing better health benefits to top executives than to other employees, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Tax officials said they would not enforce the provision this year because they had yet to issue regulations for employers to follow, according to the Times.

Internal Revenue Service spokesman Bruce Friedland said employers would not have to comply until the agency issued regulations or other guidance, the newspaper reported.

The IRS was not immediately available to confirm the Times story.

The rollout of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, has been marked by a number of delays in implementing certain parts of the law. In November, the administration announced a one-year delay in online insurance enrollment for small businesses.

U.S. judge upholds subsidies pivotal to Obamacare

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A judge on Wednesday upheld subsidies at the heart of President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, rejecting one of the main legal challenges to the policy by conservatives opposed to an expansion of the federal government.

A ruling in favor of a lawsuit brought by individuals and businesses in Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia would have crippled the implementation of the law by making health insurance unaffordable for many people.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington D.C. wrote that Congress clearly intended to make the subsidies available nationwide under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Marketplace Enrollment Numbers

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the most detailed information on people who enrolled in health plans through either the federally run marketplace or exchanges operated by 15 states and the District of Columbia.

Almost 2.2 million people enrolled in health plans through Dec. 31 in the federal and state marketplaces. (No data has been released on how many enrollees have secured their enrollment with their first premium payment.) Most residents enrolled in December.

Of the almost 2.2. million: