The below email was sent by Director of Human Resources Marty Mastascusa on March 31, 2016.
As an update to an e-mail I sent on February 12th, Form 1095-C, which is required under the Affordable Care Act, was mailed to employees last week, in advance of the March 31st deadline. Employees who are enrolled in medical coverage also received Form 1095-B from Independence Blue Cross several weeks earlier. The forms look identical, with the primary difference being that Form 1095-C ended up not including dependent information, while Form 1095-B did include dependent information. The mailing distribution was also slightly different, as Form 1095-C was sent to all benefits-eligible employees, including those who waive medical coverage, while Form 1095-B was only sent to employees who were enrolled in medical coverage in 2015.
Both 1095 forms are intended to document whether an individual has medical coverage for all twelve months of 2015 and will not be subject to the penalties established under the Affordable Care Act. If you have dependent coverage, the 1095-B form is more useful since it included information for all covered family members. In a typical year, the 1095 forms are to be distributed by January 31st of the following year, matching the distribution deadline for the W-2. However, in this first year, the IRS has delayed the required distribution of the 2015 1095 forms until March 31, 2016.
The IRS has created a question-and-answer page regarding 1095 forms.