The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is urging the IRS to adopt measure that would soften the blow to businesses from the healthcare law’s insurance mandate.
The provision, which takes effect next year, is a cornerstone of the sweeping law. But the business group warns that it could undermine worker access to healthcare if it is not implemented properly.
“The Chamber has long advocated for efforts to support the employer sponsored system and remain[s] concerned that the new employer mandate requirement will instead erode this valued coverage,” the organization said.
In formal comments submitted this week to the Internal Revenue Service, the Chamber lays out a set of recommendations meant to help ease the employers’ transition to the new regulations.
Among them is a proposal to adopt a non-enforcement period for the first year after the mandate takes effect, so that employers would not be penalized while they struggle to understand and comply with the law and its provisions.
The Chamber lauded the IRS and the Treasury Department for issuing several notices meant to explain the new requirements but said, “the time it has taken to get this guidance means that employers have far too little time to fully understand their obligations.”
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