Move made after businesses expressed concern that the federal law’s requirements were too complicated

Businesses with more than 50 employees have a one-year reprieve in implementing the new health care law’s employer mandate. On July 2, the Obama administration announced a delay until 2015 of the implementation of the requirement that businesses provide health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty.

In a separate move, contraceptives will stay covered under provisions of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). Despite resistance from faith-based organizations, the Obama administration said June 28 that it was moving ahead with the rule requiring most employers to provide free “morning-after” and “week-after” pill coverage in their employee health insurance plans. 

The postponement announcement was made by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after numerous complaints from businesses arguing that the requirements of the new health care law were too complicated and difficult to implement in time.

Other key parts of the law, including the health exchanges where individuals can buy insurance, are on schedule to open Oct. 1, wrote Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Obama, in a White House blog. 

The delay does not change the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to buy insurance. Some consumers may receive subsidies to help them pay for the insurance depending on their incomes.

Jarrett said the move shows the Obama administration is paying attention to the concerns of business.

“As we make these changes, we believe we need to give employers more time to comply with the new rules,” Jarrett wrote. “Since employer responsibility payments can only be assessed based on this new reporting, payments won’t be collected for 2014.”

The delay provides the IRS more time to simplify reporting requirements, as well as for businesses to understand reporting systems. The government still wants businesses to voluntarily begin reporting in 2014, so they will be ready for 2015.

Business groups had complained that the law created an administrative burden as businesses attempted to update technology and plan to provide health coverage to their employees, despite not knowing how much the insurance would cost.

Businesses with more than 50 employees would have paid a fee of $2,000 per uninsured employees after the first 30 employees. The Congressional Budget Office anticipated those penalties to generate $4 billion in 2014, USA Today reported. 

The final contraceptive rule adopts a simplified version of an approach proposed by the government in February to balance the interests of women with the concerns of employers with religious objections, the New York Times reported.

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