While some businesses with more than 50 employees were relieved to have another year to comply with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the new deadline could have an unintended effect.

Credit Union Exchange Blueprint, a Birmingham, Ala.-based private exchange for credit unions and members that provides online access to insurance carriers, said it believes the decision to extend the compliance deadline for providing health insurance coverage to employees will cause more companies to drop their group coverage and send staffers to the individual market. 

"Large employers will also hurt many of their employees by offering coverage, but they've been 'stuck between a rock and a hard place' since they faced severe penalties of $2,000 per full-time worker if they failed to provide coverage," said EPL, the credit union core processing specialist in Birmingham, Ala., providing the technology behind CUEB.