Does My Small Business Have To Provide Health Insurance? 
This remains an area of great confusion to many small business owners . If you have less than 50 employees the answer is `` No '' . The employer mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act -LRB- ObamaCare -RRB- apply to employers with 100 or more full time employees beginning in 2015 and for employers with 50 to 99 full time employees in 2016 . Please note that when I use the term full time employees this means employees who work 30 + hours per week and also includes what are referred to as full time equivalent employees -LRB- FTEs -RRB- . FTEs are part time employees whose work hours are totaled up according to IRS approved calculations that are then translated into some number of full time employees to be added to the employer 's regular full time employee count to arrive at a total employment figure that may determine whether an employer is subject to the employer mandate provisions of the Affordable Care Act or is eligible to participate in the SHOP -LRB- small business group insurance -RRB- offering -LRB- s -RRB- in the government health insurance marketplaces . Totally simple , right ? Any business owner would be well advised to seek out a knowledgeable health insurance broker/consultant to assist them is making these determinations and explaining the record keeling , tracking and reporting requirements the employer may be subject to under the Affordable Care Act . Getting this stuff wrong could have serious tax implications for the employer . If I can be of any assistance to you in this matter please feel free to contact me as I am a Chartered Benefit Consultant . 