Looks like there are still a couple of sections in Title I (Quality, Affordable Health Care For All Americans) of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Free Choice Vouchers
Starting in 2014, employers that offer employee health plans and that pay at least part of the cost must offer "free choice vouchers" to certain employees. These are employees with household incomes less than four times the poverty line; who do not participate in the employer's health plan; and whose contribution to the health plan would be more than eight percent but not more than 9.8 percent of household income. (The eight percent and 9.8 percent parameters will be indexed annually for health insurance premium inflation.)
The voucher must equal the value of what the employer's greatest monthly contribution would have been had the employee participated in an offered plan. Employees will be able to use the vouchers to purchase coverage through an exchange. If the amount of the voucher exceeds the employee's cost of coverage through the exchange, the employee gets to keep the difference. The value of the voucher is not taxable income for the employee, and it is tax-deductible for the employer. Receipt of a voucher does affect the size of any premium tax credits an employee might receive. Providing the vouchers will reduce or eliminate any penalties an employer might owe under the employer mandate. Employers must notify employees that, if the employer does not offer a free-choice voucher, the employee may lose the employer's premium contributions by purchasing coverage through an exchange.
The remaining section requires the federal Department of Health and Human Services to regularly get input from a number of organizations as to how financial and administrative trnasactions relating to Title I can be standardized and improved.
Okay, that is really it for Title I. See you next time for Title II.
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