WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Monday again delayed a contentious health care law requirement that all but the smallest employers provide coverage to full-time workers, this time by giving medium-sized businesses another year to comply.

The so-called employer mandate, which has been opposed by businesses, was originally supposed to take effect in January under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. But the administration granted a one-year delay in July.

The latest change, published in a 227-page final rule, allows medium-sized businesses with 50-99 full-time workers to avoid a tax penalty until 2016 for failing to offer health insurance. It also allows larger employers to phase in coverage by offering a health plan to 70 percent of their full-time workforce next year, rising to 95 percent in 2016.

Firms with fewer than 50 full-time workers are not required to provide coverage under Obamacare, but could qualify for federal subsidies through new health insurance marketplaces established under Obamacare.

The regulation had been the subject of intense business lobbying and drew a largely upbeat response from employer groups.

"I am quite pleasantly surprised," said Neil Trautwein of the National Retail Federation, a Washington-based trade group. "This is beginning to look more like something the business community can live with."

But the change triggered another wave of Republican calls to postpone Obamacare's mandate for individuals, which requires most Americans to enroll in coverage by March 31 or pay a penalty in their 2014 income taxes.

"Much like the individual mandate, the business mandate is bad for middle-class families and it will harm economic growth. But the answer to this problem is not random unilateral changes, stoking uncertainty," House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor said in a statement.

"It's time to stop creating more chaos and delay Obamacare for all Americans."

Analysts said the change could help vulnerable Democrats in November's midterm elections battle for control of Congress by delaying a potential crescendo of complaints from small-business leaders, a theme Republicans also picked up on.

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White House again delays health care mandate for employers