On Wednesday, October 7, 2015, President Obama signed into law H.R. 1624, the Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees (PACE) Act, legislation that will give states the ability to define the size of a small group for health insurance purposes.
The law repeals the mandated small group expansion of groups of up to 50 employees to groups of up to 100 employees that was to go into effect on January 1, 2016. This law gives states the flexibility to determine the size of their small group market instead of being forced into the national standard.
No action is needed if states want to retain their respective definition. There is no announcement expected for states that decide to keep the status quo. We will only see an announcement if there is a change to their definition.
- NY decided early on to expand the definition of small group to 1-100.
- NJ, PA and DE are retaining the definition of small group as 1-50 until further notice.
It is important to note that this change does not repeal the Employer Shared Responsibility, 6055/6056 Carrier and Employer Reporting, or other compliance requirements for groups with 50 or more employees. Please contact your Total Benefit Solutions account manager at (215)355-2121 if you have any further questions.
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