Winds of Change
The new federal health care requirements are having a real impact on businesses across the country … are you aware of the requirements for your business?
By Laurie Arendt
W
e all know that health care reform legislation is upon us. But how many of us can name the health plan changes required of businesses in 2010? A gold star to those who can come up with the short list. Now here come the trickier questions: What about the changes required for 2012? Or 2016? Or 2018? “Based on what I’ve been hearing from clients, I think the easiest way to sum up the sentiment out there is that most businesses know whatever they need to do is going to cost more money, but they don’t exactly know how much yet,” says William Wertz, CPA, MST, a managing partner in the Strategic Tax Group and market leader in Baker Tilly’s Milwaukee office. “The changes are so numerous and so complicated that the focus for many businesses really has been on the immediate needs versus the long-term changes.” Wertz also says that larger companies, which inherently tend to have greater resources and a larger staff pool, also seem to have a clearer idea of
the health care changes ahead than the smaller and middle-market businesses. “But that’s to be expected,” he notes. “There are some businesses out there, like the insurance providers, that are devoting entire staff pools to understanding what the health care requirements now require of businesses. In fact, it would not surprise me at all if we saw a boutique health care consulting industry spring up to help small businesses properly implement the health care legislation.” While many of the new health care requirements are breaking new ground, there’s another element in place that is confounding the issue, adds Wertz. “As with most legislation, things have a tendency to remain in flux, and the health care bill is no exception,” he says. “In my specialty area, for example, some of the tax provisions are deferred until 2013. To that point, no one is really focused on those provisions right now. There is some shoulder shrugging going on, but that’s because this bill still has so many moving parts to it.”
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O CTOBER 2010 | CORPORATE REPORT WISCONSIN
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