Employers should not overlook the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) annual inflation-adjusted shift in cost-sharing limits for group health plan coverage, as they could face potential penalties for failing to provide affordable coverage under the ACA's shared-responsibility provisions.

On May 21, the IRS announced in Revenue Procedure 2018-34 the 2019 shared-responsibility affordability percentage. Based on the ACA's affordability standard as adjusted for inflation, health coverage will satisfy the requirement to be affordable if the lowest-cost self-only coverage option available to employees does not exceed 9.86 percent of an employee's household income, up from 9.56 percent in 2018.

In determining the maximum self-only contribution amount that a calendar year plan can charge in 2019 under the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) safe harbor, the 2019 FPL of $12,140 for a one-person household is used. The maximum monthly contribution will be 9.86% of $12,140, divided by 12, or $99.75. The amounts for prior years are also included in the table below:

Calendar Year

Prior Year FPL

Affordability Percentage

Maximum Monthly Contribution

2019

     $ 12,140

9.86%

$ 99.75

2018

     $ 12,060

9.56%

$ 96.08

2017

     $ 11,880

9.69%

$ 95.93

2016

     $ 11,770

9.66%

$ 94.75

2015

     $ 11,670

9.56%

$ 92.97