According to a recent New York Times article, nursing homes and home health care agencies have begun extensive lobbying efforts seeking an exemption from the federal health care reform law’s health insurance coverage requirements. Starting in 2014, the law requires employers with 50 or more full-time employees to offer affordable health insurance coverage or pay a penalty. This penalty could exceed $200,000 a year for a midsize nursing home.
Because of the high costs associated with providing health insurance coverage, most nursing homes and home health care agencies either (1) do not provide health insurance to their workers or (2) pay wages so low that employees cannot afford the coverage they offer.
Industry representatives are pushing Congress to consider several options, including (1) giving nursing homes more time to comply with the coverage requirement, (2) waiving or reducing the penalties for nursing homes in financial distress because of the new mandates and fines, or (3) allowing nursing homes to take tax deductions for the penalties, which by law are nondeductible.
