Work Advice: Health, welfare and 'Obamacare'

Q: I work for a government contractor providing support services to a military base. In November 2011, our employer told us all we must sign up for its health insurance plan or we would be out of a job. The plan was also forced on people who already had insurance through the military, their spouse's job, etc.

Under this plan, I pay $550 to $600 per month and get the same coverage as someone who pays half as much. The company owner says it is "health and welfare." "Obamacare" is supposed to provide affordable choices. Why don't we have a choice?

A: Get comfy - this takes some explaining. (Notice I'm not promising a tidy solution.)

Obamacare - rather, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 - does offer individuals more coverage opportunities through a national health care exchange. Also, starting this year, the ACA's "employer mandate" requires employers of a certain size to offer some percentage of their workers health insurance that is "affordable" and provides at least a "minimum value" in benefits, or potentially face stinging penalties. Sounds simple, right?

Except, as a federal contractor, your employer also has to comply with the Service Contract Act of 1965. Under the SCA, contractors have to spend a certain amount on "health and welfare" fringe benefits. It's possible your employer forced its plan on everyone in 2011 because that was the simplest, cheapest way to meet its health-and-welfare obligation, or because the plan has minimum participation requirements.

So is there any way to get out of your employer's pricey plan and find something more to your liking under the ACA?

Your best bet is to find a lawyer (www.nolo.com or www.findlegalhelp.org) specializing in benefits who can analyze your employer's insurance plan to see whether it's "affordable" and of "minimum value" under the ACA. If it isn't, your lawyer can advise you on next steps, such as reporting the violation to the appropriate authorities.

But if your employer's health care plan is legally kosher, it's not clear that you have any legal right to turn it down if you stay in this job. Incredible as it seems, none of the federal government, legal or benefits experts I consulted could point to any law, old or new, that explicitly grants employees the right to decline employer-provided insurance. And any such law would have to address whether contractors would then be penalized for not meeting their SCA health-and-welfare minimum.

You might find a creative lawyer with ideas on how to resolve these issues in court. Otherwise, it seems it would take an act of Congress to address this apparent oversight - not something I'd hold my breath over, even in the mildest political climate.

Thanks to Gary Kushner, president of Kushner & Co.; Denise Clark, founder of Clark Law Group; and Joel Wood of Crowell & Moring.

• Miller has written for and edited tax publications for 16 years, most recently for the accounting firm KPMG's Washington National Tax office. You can find her on Twitter, @KarlaAtWork.