Part of the current healthcare reform changes include mandatory group medical coverage for certain businesses. Effective the first day of 2014, certain companies are going to have to provide group medical coverage for their employees. Will your business be one of those that are required to provide this coverage?

The blog at Zane Benefits has and article that describes what companies will be required to offer group health coverage to their employees, and what happens if they don’t.

In summary, only companies that employed an average of 50 full-time employees in the previous year will be required to offer group health insurance plans to their employees. This eliminates many of America’s small businesses as a 50 employee company is a fairly large small business.

If your company meets the 50 or more employee requirement, then you will have to offer a group plan with minimal essential coverage. There are financial penalties that exist (which your company has to pay) if your company does not offer a plan with the minimal essential coverage.

What constitutes minimal essential coverage as well as how penalties are calculated can be confusing. The above mentioned article goes into some detail on these matters, but to make sure that your company is in compliance with any laws that go into affect in 2014, you may just want to seek some professional advice. Fortunately, as we get closer to this date, finding information that will demystify this whole process should get easier.

Keep in mind that you can always get a free insurance quote online to help you figure out what a group health insurance plan is going to cost your company. Health insurance is most likely not the cheapest insurance that your company will buy, so it pays to shop around and find a policy that meets the new 2014 requirements while is still affordable to your business.

Big changes are on the horizon for health insurance coverage. If your business is going to be required to offer a group medical insurance plan to your employees, start looking into getting this coverage now. Do not wait until the very last minute or you may just find yourself caught with your pants down, so to speak.