The inability to get employer reporting up and running is the excuse De Jour for waiving penalities and not substantiating income when it comes to subsidies. It is also BS and a great example of poorly written bill by people with no clue what they are doing. ACA was passed in 2010. Prior to that;
As an employer I report quarterly to my State everyone I employee and how much I pay them for unemployment benefit purposes. When someone files a claim I promptly get notice, or multiple, requesting that I verify this information.
As an employer SS and Medicare taxes are paid monthly or quarterly for all employees.
When it comes to verifying income the States and Federal government are already sitting on the vast majority of this info. There is no need to create any employer reporting or new process to accomplish this. They have had this info for decades and well before the bill was written or passed. If the government can't pass this data between buildings with a 3 year advance notice then trying to collect it a second time from employers is going to really be a disaster.
In regards to other coverage, as a payor we are already required to report our population of insured over 55 to CMS. I rather we report everyone as it is easier than parsing member roles and hoping you don't miss someone. Creating an extract to send everyone is much easier than an extract to send only certain people CMS wants some of whom must be manually identified.
So here now is the federal government perplexed about how they are going to get data on those privately insured, as they continue to tell us to not send everyone privately insured under the current reporting mechanism. To remove the filters that limit what is sent now is a very easy process. To send the file more frequently is an easy process.
To create an entirely new process with new data set and reporting requirements....not so easy.
You can't help but ask, did they write this bill trying to fail or are they really this inept?