Virginia House Approves Healthcare Fix

Date: February 02, 2016

NFIB-supported legislation helping small businesses impacted by ACA was approved unanimously.

Virginia House Approves Healthcare Fix

Last month, the Virginia House of Delegates approved emergency legislation 97-0 that applies a federally approved fix to the Affordable Care Act, preventing some small businesses from paying higher costs for health insurance.

Under the ACA, the definition of a small business was scheduled to expand—from those with 50 or fewer employees up to those with 100 or fewer employees—in 2016. This expanded definition would have moved small businesses who employ between 51 and 100 workers from the large group insurance market to the small group market, which is more heavily regulated and would have resulted in higher premiums.

However, the PACE Act, which was signed into law by President Obama at the end of 2015, repealed this mandatory expansion of the small group market. Before PACE was approved, Virginia lawmakers had already approved a law expanding the definition, under the assumption that federal healthcare would stick with its planned expansion. So, to make sure small business owners see the benefit of the PACE Act, Virginia had to change the law again to return to the original definition.

The bill enacting this emergency fix, House Bill 58, was supported by both NFIB and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

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