Minding the rules ...

A sweeping federal law called "The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act" was passed in August of 1996. As a small business owner, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with this law's key provisions, outlined below. They may affect you, your business and your employees.

Important news

Important news about insurance availability, eligibility and continuity Insurers that offer small-group coverage will have to accept -- with very few exceptions -- any employer group of two to 50 employees that applies, and enroll all eligible employees. At the option of the employer, insurers must (with some exceptions) renew all group coverage contracts.

As a rule, pre-existing condition exclusions cannot exceed 12 months. Insurers and employers sponsoring self-funded plans must credit prior coverage toward such exclusions when an employee (current or new) changes health plans. Thus an employee who maintains continuous coverage will not have to serve an exclusion period for a pre-existing condition more than once.

The effect on long-term care insurance:

Long-term care insurance will receive the same tax treatment as accident and health insurance. Employers can deduct, as a business expense, the cost of setting up a long-term care insurance plan for their employees as well as any contributions they make toward the premiums. Employer contributions are excluded from employees' taxable income.

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