"The three main factors currently driving employers to redesign their health plans and increase employee costs are: [1] the plan value threshold limits triggering the excise tax ($10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage); [2] the assessment of the tax starting in 2018, and [3] after 2018 the threshold limits will only be indexed to CPI. If the Treasury and IRS were to draft regulations providing relief around any of those three points, it would certainly relieve pressure on employers actively looking for ways to restructure health benefits. The challenge, however, will be that those three factors are set in the ACA statute, decreasing the regulatory flexibility afforded to Treasury and IRS."  MORE >>