4 more possible changes to health care reform law

Here we examine four other changes to ACA that experts consider likely-to-possible. The status of pre-existing conditions? Probably not changing. Coverage to age 26? Not going anywhere. But here are some adjustments to ACA that it might just be worth preparing for, starting with a popular one among business groups: a push to change the threshold for “full-time” employees from 30 hours to 40.

Before ACA, hardly any employers thought of a worker clocking 30 hours a week as a full-time employee, and many have struggled with calculators and algorithms trying to add up flex time and variable hours. In addition to lowering the number of eligible employees, experts tell EBN, upping the level to 40 hours a week would simply save on office time and cost. “It’s a more comforting or easier-to-administer threshold for a lot of employers,” says Paul Hamburger, co-chair of Proskauer’s employee benefits, executive compensation & ERISA litigation practice center.