Good news for semi-big employers

Jen Carsen

The PACE Act--Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees--has just passed in Congress, which is good news for employers with 51 to 100 employees.

Currently, employers with between 1 and 50 employees are considered “small employers” under health insurance market provisions; these small employers are subject to additional requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the requirement to cover essential health benefits.

Employers with between 51 and 100 employees were slated to join this group of small employers on January 1, 2016, but the PACE Act removes this mandate and leaves it up to the states to decide whether or not to treat them as small employers. This helps ease some cost fears for employers in this 51-100 employee size bracket.