"The delay eases the cranky businessman problem. New things are hard, and this was going to be hard to implement"
- Howard Dean, former Democratic Party chairman
Complaints from smalls companies across the U.S. influenced the President Barack Obama and his administration to delay a requirement that all businesses with staff more than 50 workers to provide health insurance to all employees who are working more than 30 hours per week. This decision is likely to protect the Democrats in next year's elections, even despite Republican arguments that the law is full of flaws. Before the decision companies assured that they would stop hiring or cut some workers' hours to avoid the law's bureaucratic burdens. Nevertheless, critics and supporters of the law said that its impact on the 2014 congressional elections will depend on millions of uninsured Americans ability to obtain subsidized coverage.
Obama's dramatic decision may hold off shedding staff, but experts do not expect to see a hiring boom, only because of the unexpected one-year delay. At the moment, around 90% of the businesses, which will be affected by the law, already offer health-care coverage. Despite a delay, the decision has led to more uncertainty, making it even harder for employers to plan for the future and decide whether to create new jobs of fire employees.
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