Fantastic news has swept the insurance industry and we couldn't be more excited for companies with less than 50 employees!

Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1446 (SB 1446 DeSaulnier) which provides small employers that are currently offering non-grandfathered health insurance policies in effect as of December 31, 2013, the option to renew existing coverage for one year.  This bill is referred to as the “Grandmothering” Law and entitles small groups the ability to not move coverage at the end of 2014.  Instead, small businesses that renewed early last year (December 1, 2013) have the ability to extend the current offering of non-ACA plans.

The small employer group policies affected by SB  1446 must still include many ACA and state-based mandated benefits such as preventive healthcare coverage without co-pays or deductibles, no lifetime caps on benefits, maternity care, coverage for Autism, and the elimination of gender discrimination in setting premiums.

• This bill does not impact plans that were Grandfathered.  As a reminder, a Grandfathered plan is one that was in force prior to March 23, 2010.

• If you are offering an ACA-plan, one of the Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum level plans, you do not meet the requirement for the bill.