Earlier this week, President Obama signed legislation into law that provides relief from one of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act’s (PPACA’s) most onerous restrictions on account-based plans. H.R. 4302, the “Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014”–commonly known as the “Doc fix” bill–includes a provision eliminating the deductible limits imposed on health plans in the small group market.

PPACA currently limits deductible amounts offered by small employer plans to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families.

You may recall that Wisconsin’s Insurance Commissioner announced last year that the state would allow insurance carriers the flexibility to increase the deductibles of a small group health plan. As a result of that policy change, TASC partnered with the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC) in an advocacy effort–at both the state and federal levels–to elicit similar guidance.

This is a real victory… It will allow small employers to continue to offer affordable health plans along with flexible compensation options such as FSAs, HRAs and HSAs. Good news!