The Surprise of Familiarity

Watching from afar the Scouts attempting to earn their orienteering merit badges, we could see it on the boys’ faces.  They were lost; they were scared.  They should have reached their destination an hour ago.  Soon, these woods would be dark.   The compass holder, the map marker and the step counter resumed their running argument. We wondered whether to intervene.  Then, the class clown smiled . . . and pointed . . . at a rusted, single-wide trailer they had seen before, very near their departure point.  In five hours, they had come full circle.  They had done a lot wrong and were glad just to know how to get back to our campfire. Success could wait.

And so it is with ACA repeal.  A better-planned, better-executed effort may be mounted, but probably not soon.  Between now and then, 2015 employer mandate taxes will be assessed and collected, and perhaps 2016 taxes, too.  OSHA will investigate the retaliation complaints of employees discharged after triggering those tax assessments by seeking ACA Marketplace subsidies.  Form 1094-C / Form 1095-C reporting penalties will be imposed.  Group health plans will be audited for ACA compliance.  Temp staffing and employee leasing arrangements will be disrupted by those developments.  Consequently, we now return you to our regularly scheduled program.  If ACA compliance has been sidelined or forgotten in your organization, now would be a good time to tune-in.