Producers hoping to boost business with the Affordable Care Act’s SHOP—Small Business Health Options Program—will have to wait another year for the online rollout. The Obama administration announced Wednesday that due to ongoing issues with HealthCare.gov, the small business marketplace won’t open until November 2014.
However, the news isn’t all bad—at least for producers.
Small businesses still have the option to purchase coverage through SHOP, officials said, but they will not be able to do so online. Instead, the White House will be relying on certified producers to sell the coverage.
“We’ve concluded that we can best serve small employers by continuing this offline experience while we concentrate on both creating a smoothly functioning online experience in the SHOP marketplace, and adding new key features, including an employee choice option and premium aggregation services, by November 2014,” the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a statement.
Businesses with fewer than 50 employees will still be eligible for tax credits, but the delay was still met with grimaces from the small business sector.
“It’s disappointing that the online portion of the federal small business marketplace through HealthCare.gov will be delayed, and it’s important to get up and running as soon as possible,” said John Arensmeyer, CEO of the advocacy group Small Business Majority. “However, it doesn’t change the fact that the marketplace can offer the most competitive combination of price and quality for small businesses purchasing health insurance.”
The delay is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Obama administration, including postponements for the individual enrollment deadline, the employer mandate and a Spanish language sign-up tool for the federal exchange website.
