Minimum Essential Coverage (IRS Code 6055) reporting is required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to help the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) administer compliance with the individual mandate. Health insurance carriers are responsible for reporting on covered individuals under their fully-insured group health plans.

To comply with the MEC reporting requirements, insurers are required to make up to three reasonable attempts to obtain social security numbers from individuals whose data they do not have on file. Cigna will begin this outreach for fully-insured clients in August and will continue to do so through the remainder of the calendar year.

Cigna will only reach out to employees for whom Cigna does not have social security numbers on file for either the employee or the employee’s covered dependents.

Cigna will email fully-insured employers with 250 or fewer employees later this week. A sample of Cigna’s outreach letter and additional information on MEC and Large Employer reporting is available on the Reporting Requirements Toolkit.