Dive Brief:
- Smaller employers have been given more time to comply with the requirement that they buy health insurance for their employees.
- Businesses with 50 to 99 full-time employees will now have until 2016 to offer health insurance to their employees; businesses with 100 or more employees will have more time depending on the proportion of full-time employees they have.
- Employers with less than 50 workers were already exempt from the mandate.
Dive Insight:
Smaller employers must be breathing a sigh of relief at this news. But that being said, this news points to serious trouble in implementing the ACA. With a major part of the legislation watered down, it makes one wonder what aspect of the law will be diluted or delayed next. On the whole, this is not a win for the Obama administration.