	Introduction

During the Obama Administration, the two federal agencies primarily responsible for administering the private health insurance provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) within the Treasury Department—took a series of actions to delay, extend, or otherwise modify the law's implementation. This report discusses selected administrative actions taken by CMS and the IRS through February 2015 to address ACA implementation. The report is no longer being updated and is available primarily for reference purposes. A companion CRS report summarizes all the legislative actions taken by the 112 th , 113 th , and 114 th Congresses to repeal, defund, delay, or otherwise amend the ACA. On July 9, 2013, the IRS announced that it would not take any enforcement action against employers who fail to comply with the law's employer mandate until the beginning of 2015 (see Table 1 ). This ACA provision, which took effect on January 1, 2014, requires employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) to offer their full-time workers health coverage that meets certain standards of affordability and minimum value. Those employers who do not provide such coverage risk having to pay a penalty if one or more of their employees obtain subsidized coverage through an exchange. The IRS subsequently announced that employers with at least 50 but fewer than 100 FTEs will have an additional year to comply with the employer mandate (see Table 1 ). Renewal of Noncompliant Plans

Other controversial administrative actions include those taken in response to the decision by insurers to cancel individual and small-group health plans that do not meet the ACA's new standards for health insurance coverage, which also took effect on January 1, 2014. Arguments For and Against the Administrative Actions

Opponents of the ACA, who believe that the law is fundamentally flawed, argued that some of the Obama Administration's actions were effectively rewriting the ACA in an effort to make it work and add to the public's confusion about the law. The ACA's critics asserted that the actions taken by the Administration to delay enforcement of the employer mandate were illegal and raised concerns that the President was not upholding his constitutional duty to faithfully execute federal law. The Administration countered that its actions were not a refusal to implement and enforce the ACA as written. Instead, they represented temporary corrections necessary to ensure the effective implementation of a very large and complex law. 676 ) authorizing Speaker John Boehner, on behalf of the House, to sue the President or other executive branch officials for failing to "to act in a manner consistent with [their] duties under the Constitution and laws of the United States with respect to implementation of the [ACA]." A lawsuit was filed on November 21, 2014, consisting of two counts. First, it claimed that the Administration had violated the Constitution by delaying the ACA employer mandate. Second, the lawsuit challenged the ACA's cost-sharing subsidies.
During the Obama Administration, the two federal agencies primarily responsible for administering the private health insurance provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) within the Treasury Department—took a series of actions to delay, extend, or otherwise modify the law's implementation.
This report summarizes selected administrative actions taken by CMS and the IRS through February 2015 to address ACA implementation. The report is no longer being updated and is available primarily for reference purposes. A companion product—CRS Report R43289—summarizes all the legislative actions taken by the 112th, 113th, and 114th Congresses to repeal, defund, delay, or otherwise amend the ACA.
The most significant administrative action was the decision by the IRS to delay implementation of the law's "employer mandate." This ACA provision, which took effect on January 1, 2014, requires employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) to offer their full-time workers health coverage that meets certain standards of affordability and minimum value. Those employers who do not provide such coverage risk having to pay a penalty if one or more of their employees obtain subsidized coverage through an exchange. The IRS announced that it would not take any enforcement action against employers who fail to comply with the law's employer mandate until the beginning of 2015. Subsequently, the agency announced that employers with at least 50 but fewer than 100 FTEs would have an additional year to comply with the employer mandate.
Other controversial administrative actions include those taken in response to the decision by insurers to cancel individual and small-group health plans that do not meet the ACA's standards for health insurance coverage, which also took effect on January 1, 2014.
Opponents of the ACA argued that these administrative actions were an attempt to rewrite the law in order to make it work. They asserted that some of the Administration's actions were illegal and raised concerns that the President was not upholding his constitutional duty to faithfully execute federal law. The Administration countered that its actions were authorized by federal law and represented temporary corrections necessary to ensure the effective implementation of a very large and complex act.
On July 30, 2014, the House approved a resolution (H.Res. 676) authorizing Speaker John Boehner, on behalf of the House, to sue the President or other executive branch officials for failing to "to act in a manner consistent with [their] duties under the Constitution and laws of the United States with respect to implementation of the [ACA]." A lawsuit was filed on November 21, 2014, consisting of two counts. First, it claimed that the Administration had violated the Constitution by delaying the ACA employer mandate. Second, the lawsuit challenged the Administration's authority to pay cost-sharing subsidies, arguing that the law had not appropriated any funding for them.