Healthcare Knowledge Center

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HEALTHCARE KNOWLEDGE CENTER

Let the National Restaurant Association and Nebraska Restaurant Association’s Health Care Knowledge Center guide you through the implications of health care reform – visit www.restaurant.org/healthcare.

The NRA’s Health Care Knowledge Center, a Member Resource

Like it, or not, the health care reform law is on the books and as an employer it is your responsibility to understand it. Whether you’re a small operation with just a few employees, or a chain with hundreds, it’s up to you to figure out how your business fits into the regulatory framework set out in the 2010 law.

To help, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) and the Nebraska Restaurant Association have set up a clearing house of data and information to help member employers navigate the intricacies of the law. Located at http://www.healthcare.restaurant.org, the Health Care Knowledge Center can help restaurant operators figure out how the law impacts them, determine what their responsibilities are and estimate how much implementing the law will cost.

“The health care law is almost 1,000 pages long and contains thousands of sections and subsections. Our hope is that the Health Care Knowledge Center will provide members with an easy way to gain understanding of the law and its impacts,” says James Balda, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of the NRA.

The website contains a vast trove of information on the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and what it means for restaurants of varying sizes. First, find out if you are considered a small employer with limited responsibilities, or large employer that must meet a series of mandates including the requirement to offer all full-time workers health care coverage.

The law requires "large applicable employers" -- defined as those with 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees -- to offer their full-time salaried and hourly employees an affordable "minimum essential coverage" health benefits package starting in 2014, or face penalties. Click the link title “Determine Your Responsibilities” enter the number of full-time workers you employ and the number of hours part-timers work per month and the calculator will tell you if you are a large or small employer.

Like any businessperson, you’re concerned about how the bill’s requirements will affect your bottom line. To get an idea, compare your business with a series of case studies of restaurants of various sizes, everything from the smallest quick serve operation, to the largest chains.