Download Templates
In English:
- ACA Marketplace Notification Template for Massachusetts Employers
- ACA Marketplace Notification – Optional Appendix Template
En Español:
- Plantilla de Notificación del ACA Marketplace para los empleadores en Massachusetts (2024 version coming soon)
- Notificación del ACA Marketplace – Plantilla Apéndice Opcional
Background
As you may know, the new national health care reform law (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or ACA) requires employers to issue a Marketplace Notification to new hires within 14 days of the employee’s start date.
The purpose of this requirement is to help employees understand health insurance Marketplaces, which are designed to make it easier for consumers to compare health insurance plans and enroll in coverage. In Massachusetts, the state Marketplace is known as the Massachusetts Health Connector.
You can read more about this requirement and the content that the notices must contain, here.
Template Specific to the Massachusetts Health Connector (Massachusetts’ Marketplace)
The Health Connector has developed a streamlined, Massachusetts-specific template that Massachusetts employers can use to satisfy the ACA marketplace notification requirement. The use of this particular form is entirely optional for Massachusetts employers. It was developed to help make compliance with this requirement easier for businesses in the Commonwealth. Employers also have the option of developing their own notices, or using the federally-developed templates that were released by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2013.
The template created by the Health Connector helps to communicate required information in a clear and straight-forward manner to your employees. You may customize the Massachusetts ACA Marketplace Notice template by filling in the blank fields with information specific to your business. It includes information for your employees about any health insurance plans that you offer, including any pre-tax contribution health plans that meet the state’s Section 125 requirement. Completion of the Massachusetts ACA Marketplace Notice template will satisfy the state’s Section 125 noticing requirement.
The Health Connector also created an optional appendix to the Marketplace Notice that you can use to provide additional information to employees. This appendix is not required to satisfy the ACA requirement, but may prove helpful to your employees.
Applicable Employers
This Marketplace Notification is a requirement is created by § 1512 of the ACA, which creates 29 U.S.C. 218b. It applies to all employers to whom the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) applies. In general, the FLSA applies to employers that employ one or more employees who are engaged in, or produce goods for, interstate commerce. For most firms, a test of not less than $500,000 in annual dollar volume of business applies. More information about the FLSA is available on the U.S. Department of Labor’s website.
How to Share Notice with Employees
The notice may be provided by mail or may be provided electronically if the requirements of the Department of Labor’s electronic disclosure safe harbor at 29 CFR 2520.104b-1(c) are met.