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New Health Care Laws - wondering


Posted: Oct 05, 2010

With the new health care laws in the next 2 years, will IC become obsolete?  Won't these transcription companies be forced to provide health benefits and forced to have employees?  Or will they still be allowed to just hire us as IC's?

Real ICs become obsolete? I'll swing. No. However, - Anon.

[ In Reply To ..]
something bigger and more immediate (and a whole lot less confusing than healthcare reform's possible future effects) is going on right now. A lot of current "ICs" in many fields, including ours, are really employees under the law. Federal and state governments are starting to go after employers using this to avoid the costs of labor and tax compliance. (Plus, the need for compliance with the new privacy laws is yet another catalyst affecting examination of IC status.)

If the biggest differenc in being an IC instead of employee is trading employee benefits for a higher line rate and having to file one's own taxes, that person may just be an employee. Although there's a lot of gray in this area, I was an IC in another field and it was nothing like being an employee. I was an independent businessperson, as are many IC MTs.

Speculating, the MTSOs affected could choose to just hire their ineligible "ICs" officially at employee rates. Or they could change the contractual relationship to make them the real thing; however, I'm guessing that latter, requiring genuine independence of work, might be a lot more difficult for both parties in a lot of cases. I can't see a large MTSO, for instance, being able to allow its small ICs to schedule work flow and proposed style changes directly with its clients--just an example of the sort of control of one's own work ICs in most fields have. With so much money at stake, though, maybe they'll come up with some technical points they and their MTs can comply with.

Of course, real ICs should not be affected in this field any more than those in others.

BTW, I read somewhere that the IRS has a form people can fill out for a determination of whether they're employee or IC. I'd probably only submit it if I didn't like my job anyway, though. :)

The only thing I might speculate about healthcare reform is that, since many states will not be providing workable pools ICs can join, more may choose employment to get better healthcare coverage as the various provisions kick in over time. Overall, we're not a young group.


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