You hit it right there, KGMom. It's the large-size labor-intensive business with lowly paid employees that will benefit from this law, and nobody else.
Why do I say large size employees? The employer mandate only affects business with 50+ employees, so this is irrelevant to small business. Also, even though the law said 30 hours for the employee mandate penalty, the insurers were always free to set the eligibility rules at 40 hours per week or less, and any business that wanted to do so has been doing that all along. So, this change only affects those large size businesses subject to the employer mandate. And, if businesses from 50-100 employees were using the transitional relief to not be subject to the employer mandate this year, then this really only affects businesses with 100+ employees.
Why did I say businesses with labor-intensive, lowly paid employees? That is because the vast majority of large businesses have offered coverage to their employees all along. Many of them offer it to employees working as little as 20 or 30 hours per week. I have some of those groups on the books myself. Even small businesses usually keep the definition of full-time at 30 hours per week, even though they could go as high as 40 hours per week. However, the labor-intensive businesses with lowly paid employees are different. This is like restaurants, hotels, landscapers, etc. Those business would be happy to see relief from the large-employer mandate penalties, and they would have lots of lowly paid employees who could otherwise benefit from subsidies once the family glitch problem is removed.
So, basically, if you are selling IFP (particularly subsidized), and this law passes, then visit your favorite restaurant and local hotels and pass out those "Buy Obamacare NOW" flyers. However, don't waste much time trying to get employees from small business over this, because they have been able to use a 40-hour work week as the definition of full-time eligibility all along, and also don't plan on marketing to large businesses that historically offer great benefits. Your market should be hotels, landscapers, restaurants, day cares, etc.
