Tribal leaders have agreed to a strategy of supporting alternative language to S. 1771 and H.R. 3080. The alternative language would narrow the scope of the requested legislative fix. (See attached legislative language.) Rather than provide a complete exemption for Tribes and Tribally-owned entities from the employer coverage and reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act, the alternative language:
- Removes from the calculation of amounts due to the federal government for not offering health insurance coverage to full-time employees, if any, the counting of Tribal member employees.
For example, under current law, if a Tribe does not offer health insurance coverage to its full-time employees, the Tribe would be subject to paying a tax (in 2016, $2,160 per full-time employee) for each full-time employee, less a uniform exclusion of 30 full-time employees. For example, for a Tribe with 500 full-time (FT) employees:
- (500 FT employees - 30 FT employees) * $2,160 = $1,015,200.
Under the proposed (alternative) language, employees of a Tribe or Tribally-owned entity who are Tribal members would be removed from the calculation of amounts due to the federal government. For example, for a Tribe with 500 FT employees of whom 400 are Tribal members:
- (500 FT employees - 400 FT Tribal member employees - 30 FT employees) =
70 FT employees * $2,160 = $151,200.
Additional examples are available
here.
This narrower exemption would mirror the approach recommended by TSGAC to the Treasury Department as an administrative remedy. (The employer reporting requirements that are currently in effect under the ACA would not be eliminated under this targeted relief.)
