Tim Mullaney / USA TODAY
Consultant says many small businesses still unaware of requirements
Businesses reacted with relief to the Obama administration’s decision to give large and midsize employers until 2015 to provide health care coverage for their workers or face fines.
Before the administration’s announcement Tuesday, businesses with 50 or more employees had to provide affordable coverage to their full-time employees starting Jan. 1 or risk a series of penalties if even one worker ended up getting government-subsidized insurance.
Reaction marked a divide between representatives of big business, who mostly provide insurance already and were focused on complying with complex new reporting rules, and representatives of small business who said they need much bigger changes.
