Under healthcare law, employers must pay $63 fee per worker

Under healthcare law, employers must pay $63 fee per worker

Employers must pay a $63 fee for every employee or family member they insure in 2014, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). They will pay smaller fees in 2015 and 2016. Final rules were published in the Federal Register earlier this month.

The fees will go into a fund designed to offset the costs of insuring 30 million more people nationwide. Insurance companies say without the fund, insurance costs would skyrocket. The feds will collect $12 billion from employers in 2014, $8 billion in 2015 and $5 billion in 2016.

Large companies have lobbied for changes, saying the fee is unfair because it subsidizes plans that dont cover their workers. For smaller employers, like dealerships, every extra fee is closely watched.

Its caught most employers, if not all employers, by surprise, Steve Wojcik, vice president of public policy at the National Business Group on Health in Washington, told the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable asked regulators to delay the fee.

Health plan administrators have said they could cut back benefits to help pay for the fee. Some experts expect employers to pass on at least some of the cost to workers.

Regulators have made some changes in response to comments. They will collect the fee nationally instead of by state, collect it at year end and levy it per capita instead of as a percentage of premiums.