ACA’s Deductible Limits For Small Groups Repealed

On April 1, 2014, President Obama signed into law the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014. The primary purpose of the law is to provide a one-year delay of a 24% reduction in payment rates for physicians who participate in the Medicare program.

Of interest to small employers, Section 213 of the law repeals a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that limited deductibles in small group health insurance plans to no greater than $2,000 for single coverage and $4,000 for family coverage. For purposes of the ACA's insurance market reforms, an employer in the small group market is one that employs an average of 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees (in 2016, the definition of small group changes to 100 or fewer employees).