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OMB Control No: 0938-1190	ICR Reference No: 202403-0938-005
Status: Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 202003-0938-013
Agency/Subagency: HHS/CMS	Agency Tracking No: CCIIO
Title: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Exchange Functions: Eligibility for Exemptions (CMS-10466)
Type of Information Collection: Revision of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved with change	Conclusion Date: 08/26/2024
	Date Received in OIRA: 03/14/2024
Terms of Clearance: Prior to the next extension or revision of this ICR, the agency will (1) update the public burden statement on each IC to provide all of the information required per 5 CFR § 1320.8(b)(3); (2) eliminate all paper forms associated with this collection and ensure that they are digitized per long-standing guidance (e.g., M-23-22); and, (3) update the race/ethnicity question in this information collection to be in compliance with the updated SPD 15 (effective as of March 28, 2024). Each of these changes should be made as soon as possible and may be submitted as non-substantive change requests (NSCR; ICR Chg) prior to extension/revision.

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	08/31/2027	36 Months From Approved	08/31/2024
Responses	1,768	0	45,066
Time Burden (Hours)	1,940	0	15,381
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Abstract: On March 23, 2010, the President signed into law H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111-152, collectively referred to as “The Affordable Care Act.” The Affordable Care Act expands access to health insurance for individuals and employees of small businesses through the establishment of new Affordable Insurance Exchanges (Exchanges), including the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP). The Health Benefits Exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals into Qualified Health Plans (QHPs). Section 1501(b) of the Affordable Care Act added section 5000A of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) to a new chapter 48 of subtitle of the Code effective for months beginning after December 31, 2013. Section 5000A of the Code requires that nonexempt individuals either maintain minimum essential coverage or make a shared responsibility payment, includes standards for the calculation of the shared responsibility payment, describes categories of individuals who may qualify for an exemption from the shared responsibility payment, and provides the definition of minimum essential coverage. Section 1311(d)(4)(H) of the Affordable Care Act specifies that the Exchange will, subject to section 1411 of the Affordable Care Act, grant certifications of exemption from the shared responsibility payment specified in section 5000A of the Code. Section 1411(a)(4) of the Affordable Care Act provides that the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) will establish a program for determining whether a certification of exemption from the shared responsibility requirement and penalty will be issued by an Exchange under section 1311(d)(4)(H). Section 1321 of the Affordable Care Act discusses state flexibility in the operation and enforcement of Exchanges and related requirements. Section 1321(a) provides broad authority for the Secretary to establish standards and regulations to implement the statutory requirements related to Exchanges and other components of title I of the Affordable Care Act as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. CMS is publishing the criteria needed to determine eligibility for certifications of exemption and updated applications for exemptions as processed by the Marketplace. CMS developed this PRA package as part of an effort to solicit feedback from key stakeholders.

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Previously Approved	Change Due to Adjustment in Estimate
Annual Number of Responses	1,768	45,066	-43,298
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	1,940	15,381	-13,441
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Increase Due to:

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: We have updated the information request based on the number of applications received during the last five years of the program. The greatest burden hour reduction is a result of the number of applicants to the Exchange a being reduced from 45,000 to 849 individual requests for exemptions from the Exchange each year beginning in the 2024 tax year, which resulted in a total burden hour reduction of -11,921 hours Additionally, we estimate that the cost to edit the exemption applications will be significantly less than the estimated cost of developing the exemption application because the changes are a minimal burden and have been reduced from 440 hours to 200 hours. Additional reduction of burden is due to operation changes. Religious exemptions to the individual shared responsibility payment for years prior to 2019 will no longer be processed starting in 2024. This is due to the 5-year window for applying expiring in 2024. The reduction will be minimal since a negligible number of religious exemptions were received in 2022.

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