Report: Obamacare to Cost Waterford Taxpayers $420k in 2014

A recent report by Waterford’s health care consultant shows that “Obamacare” will cost local taxpayers an additional $211,216.50 in taxes and fees in the upcoming fiscal year, despite the new health care law only fully kicking-in six months into the year.

A report by Joe Spurgeon, the Town of Waterford’s health care agent from the Windsor firm Lindberg & Ripple, shows that the town will pay an additional $211,216.50 in taxes and fees from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the law nicknamed “Obamacare", in the 2013-14 fiscal year. That increase comes despite PPACA not fully being implemented until Jan. 1, 2014, which is halfway through the town’s fiscal year, and the increased cost to the town for all of 2014 is project to be $420,939.

Those costs all stem from the town giving health insurance to its more than 600 employees. PPACA mandates that entities that employ more than 50 people pay increased taxes and fees to pay for the entire cost of the law.

Specifics

There are three main fees the town will now have to pay through its health insurance premiums to comply with PPACA. Here is a list of the three, along with a brief explanation of each fee written by Spurgeon and the cost to local taxpayers.

-ACA Reinsurance Fee: “Redistributes funds from employer plans to individual market/exchange.” This fee kicks in on Jan. 1, 2014 and is expected to end at the end of the 2016.

Cost for 2013-14 to the Town of Waterford: $47,030; Cost for all of 2014: $94,059

-ACA Insurer Fee: “Redistributes funds from employer plans to subsidized premium rates offered through the exchange.” This fee does not kick in until Jan. 1, 2014.

Cost for 2013-14 to the Town of Waterford: $161,947; Cost for all of 2014: $323,894

-Comparative Effectiveness Research Fee: “Funds will be used to establish a not-for-profit Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Tasked with evaluating US delivery system.” This costs $1 per person insured in 2013 and $2 per person insured in 2014.

Cost for 2013-14 to the Town of Waterford: $2,239.50; Cost for all of 2014: $2,986