Workshop makes sense of Affordable Care Act

Date: 12/6/2013

By Carley Dangona

carley@thereminder.com

AGAWAM – For area businesses with questions regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a seminar will address the ins and outs of the program.

The Insurance Center of New England (ICNE) will conduct “The Determination of the Measurement Period: Who, What, Where, When, How and Why,” on Dec. 11 at the Springfield Country Club, 1375 Elm St., West Springfield. Attorney Meghan Sullivan will lead the ACA-focused event that begins with registration at 8 a.m. and includes breakfast. To RSVP for the event, call 750-7150 or email Erika Noble at enoble@icne.com. Space is limited.

“The ACA has turned out to be confusing to people,” ICNE President Bill Trudeau said. “With the right resources, it’s manageable. It’s not the end of the world.”

He explained that the goal of the ICNE is to assist business navigate the complexities of the act, which is subject to numerous laws and tax regulations.

“I made the decision that we’d embrace the ACA. Our motivation is to enhance the traditional offerings we have, to differentiate ourselves from other providers and to be a resource for solid answers,” Trudeau said.

ICNE has engaged Springfield-based management side labor law firm Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn to review the ICNE Compliance Checkup, a formal evaluation that covers the nine major areas of ACA compliance, from the Employer Mandate for health insurance to reporting requirements.

“ACA is so new that there are no tested best practices in place for compliance,” Meghan Sullivan, managing partner, Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn, said.

“However, by watching developments, looking to previous court decisions on other government regulations and applying those actions to current situations, we provide advice to ICNE on that which is known and that which is anticipated, she added.

The goal of the workshop is to provide clients, current and prospective, with information to become compliant with the ACA guidelines, according to Trudeau. He noted that the employees of many small to midsize business “wear many hats” and that a there might not be a designated Human Resource department to handle such issues.

Shemeka Browne-Pohlman, ICNE’s ACA specialist, will also be on hand to answer non-legal questions to clarify the requirements of the law. She has extensively studied the ACA to provide accurate answers to businesses in order to prevent them from non-compliance with the policy.

For more information about ICNE, visit www.icne.com. Future ACA seminars will be scheduled.