Home Health & Hospice Week

Will home care providers get coal in their stockings or presents under their trees?

Signs point to the tax reform bill being hammered out between the House and Senate repealing the "individual mandate" for health insurance required by the Affordable Care Act.

Currently, the tax legislation passed by the Senate Dec. 2 would repeal the fines imposed on individuals for not having insurance, while the House legislation passed earlier does not, notes law firm Sheppard Mullin in analysis of the two bills.

House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) has said he thinks a final compromise bill will include the repeal, according to CNBC.

The House and Senate have agreed to work out differences in their bills in a conference committee, and Republicans are aiming to pass the ironed-out legislation before the end of the year. However, much controversy surrounds the changes, so the bill's fate is not yet assured.

Tax-exempt entities have a number of relevant issues to monitor during the process, notes consulting firm The Health Group in Morgantown, West Virginia. They include reduced incentives for charitable giving thanks to the proposed increase in the standard deduction; unrelated business income tax changes; tax-exempt bond changes; and executive compensation revisions.