Wofford
Anderson
Cotton
Sweeney
Neville
Christenson
CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - A lot of employers waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a ruling over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) before they started making major decisions.
While that might have made more than perfect sense given that its constitutionality was up in the air, many attorneys who focus their practices on employee benefits are now telling their clients not to hold their breath when it comes to the November General Election.
"I think no matter what happens in the election, a lot of these changes are here to stay," said Robert Christenson, chair of the employee benefits practice group at Fisher & Phillips in Georgia. "To be realistic here, employers need to bite the bullet and treat this law like it's going to be here after the election."
While President Barack Obama pushed the new law as a top priority of his first term in the White House, Mitt Romney, his Republican opponent in the upcoming election, has said he wouldn't mind repealing portions of the law that has been dubbed Obamacare.
Penny Wofford, a shareholder at Ogletree, Deakins in South Carolina, said although some employers may look at the upcoming presidential election as something that could change the fate of the ACA, she tries to keep her clients focused on complying with the law that is in place today.
"There's not enough time to wait and see how the election plays out," Wofford said. "We are right at the end of 2012. We need to do things now and in 2013 to prepare for Jan. 1, 2014. There's really only a year left. If you wait until after the election, you just won't have enough time."
Read the full story at Legal Newsline.