On October 7, 2015, President Obama signed the Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees Act (“PACE”) which preserves the definition of small employer to mean an employer that employs 1-50 employees. Prior to this newly signed legislation, the Affordable Care Act was set to expand the definition of a ‘small employer’ to include companies with 51 to 100 employees which would have subjected them to community rating insurance standards beginning January 1 of 2016.
Although this bill preserves the traditional definition of small employer, it does allow states to expand the definition to include organizations with 51 to 100 employees if so desired.