The White House announced yesterday that enforcement of the Health Care Reform mandate, aka Play or Pay, will be delayed until 2015. This mandate requires large employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees to offer minimum essential coverage to full-time employees (and dependents) or incur a penalty tax of between $2,000 and $3,000 per employee should any full-time employee obtain coverage through a “marketplace” with the assistance of a federal subsidy. The delay of this (large employer) Pay or Play mandate does not affect employees’ access to premium tax credits, nor does it affect any other provision such as the Individual mandate. This delay is intended to allow the Treasury Department (IRS) time to consider ways of simplifying the new reporting requirements consistent with the mandate and also time to adapt health coverage and reporting systems while employers are taking steps toward making health coverage affordable and accessible for their employees. Formal guidance describing this transition is expected within the next week. Following is a link to one of many articles reporting on this story: http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2013/07/02/health-care-reforms-employer-mandate.html