ST. PAUL  — The Obama administration’s decision to delay a health care obligation for employers until 2015 is a relief for some Minnesota companies that welcome the extra time to understand the new law and its options.

The delayed provision would penalize employers with at least 50 full-time workers if they don’t offer their employees insurance coverage. Now they’ll have an extra year to decide whether to offer coverage or pay thousands of dollars in penalties.

In Minnesota, business leaders cheered the delay even as policy experts downplayed its impact on the state’s health insurance market.

“Obviously, there’s relief because this was not a realistic goal,” said Kate Johansen, director for health policy at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. “That said, it still remains a problem because it’s slated to go into effect a year later.”

The postponement won’t affect a huge number of companies. The Kaiser Family Foundation says 98 percent of U.S. companies with more than 200 employees already provide health insurance, as do 94 percent of those that have 50 to 199 employees.