ACA employer mandate delayed for medium-sized businesses

The Obama administration announced earlier this week that firms with 50 to 99 employees will have an additional year to comply with an ACA requirement that they provide health coverage (Source: “Administration grants employers another extension on 'Obamacare' requirements,” Associated Press via Cleveland Plain Dealer, Feb. 10, 2014).

Medium-sized businesses will now have until Jan. 1, 2016 to begin providing coverage. For businesses with 100 or more employees, the requirement will still take effect in 2015, although companies will not face fines if they offer coverage to 70 percent of their full-time employees in 2015. They are required to ramp that up to 95 percent by 2016. The law defines "full time" as people working an average of 30 hours a week per month.