While some businesses with more than 50 employees were relievedto have another year to comply with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the new deadlinecould have an unintended effect.

Credit Union Exchange Blueprint, a Birmingham, Ala.-basedprivate exchange for credit unions and members that provides onlineaccess to insurance carriers, said it believes the decision toextend the compliance deadline for providing health insurancecoverage to employees will cause more companies to drop their groupcoverage and send staffers to the individual market.

“Large employers will also hurt many of their employees byoffering coverage, but they've been 'stuck between a rock and ahard place' since they faced severe penalties of $2,000 perfull-time worker if they failed to provide coverage,” said EPL, the credit union core processing specialist in Birmingham,Ala., providing the technology behind CUEB.

“With that threat removed, large employers can now make theirdecision the same way small employers will – based on what's bestfor the employees,” EPL said.

Wayne Benson, CEO of EPL, said there is an opportunity here toeducate.

“We know credit unions are looking for answers to help theiremployer groups and for their own staff insurance needs, too. Thechanges are important to understand and we can assist,” Bensonoffered.

Earlier this week, the White House announced that it would extend the deadline from2014 to 2015 to allow employers with 50 or more employers to testthe new reporting systems and make any necessary adaptations totheir health benefits.

Prior to this announcement, small employers, which are notsubject to the mandate, were already trying to decide whether tooffer coverage next year or abandon it so that their employeescould access the generous government subsidies through public andprivate exchanges, according to EPL.

With no employer mandate to force them to offer insurance, EPLsaid small employers are making their decision in part because ofcost and in part because offering group health coverage could hurtworkers and their family members by blocking them from thegovernment tax credits.

“Employers offer benefits for a variety of reasons,” said JoshHilgers, president of Health Partners America, which has developedprivate exchange technology to help individuals access the premiumtax credits, “but the number one reason is to attract and retainquality employees.”

On Oct. 1, the federal government will open up marketplaces,commonly referred to as exchanges, to offer subsidies to the estimated 50 millionuninsured Americans who can also start signing up for state-runhealth insurance programs.