Publications

The timeline below details provisions and deadlines for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) scheduled during the 2013 calendar year. Not all dates are set by law and some are subject to change pending the regulatory process.

Since its passage in March 2010, many parts of the Affordable Care Act have already taken effect.

However, 2013 is a significant year for ACA implementation because of health insurance coverage expansions through Medicaid (in participating states) and the insurance exchanges that take effect on January 1, 2014.

In addition to those provisions, health plans, providers, employers, and consumers all face a variety of provisions that begin in 2013.

These are some of ACA timeline for January 2013:

Provisions Most Relevant To States

• Deadline for HHS to approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove state-based exchanges for operation.
• Federal matching rate to states increases one percentage point for expanded Medicaid preventive services (A or B rated by Preventive Services Task Force) without patient cost sharing.
• Primary care rates under Medicaid increase to Medicare rates with full federal funding for two years (applicable in 2013 and 2014).

Provisions Most Relevant To Employers

• Medicare payroll tax increases 0.9 percent (on top of current 1.45 percent tax) on wage income above $200,000 for individuals, $250,000 for joint filers.
• $2,500 per plan year cap begins for Flexible Spending Account contributions.
• Plans beginning or renewing in 2013 must provide coverage of certain contraceptives with no cost sharing as part of preventive health services except for grandfathered plans and certain religious employers.
• Employers receiving federal subsidies to continue retiree drug coverage can no longer take those subsidies as a tax deduction.

To read the whole 2013 Affordable Care Act timeline, view the issue brief.

READ THE BRIEF

Updated February 12, 2013