Implementation of ACA SHOP exchanges is delayed

Unable to meet deadlines in the new health care law, the Obama administration is delaying the implementation of the SHOP exchanges, new insurance marketplaces specifically for small businesses (Source: “Small Firms’ Offer of Plan Choices Under Health Law Delayed,” New York Times, April 1, 2013).

The law calls for the marketplaces specifically for small businesses to be operational starting next year. But in most states, employers will not be able to get what Congress intended: the option to provide workers with a choice of health plans. They will instead be limited to a single plan. Officials said they would delay implementation of a broader choice option until 2015 in the 33 states (including Ohio) where the federal government will be running insurance markets known as exchanges. And they will delay the requirement for other states as well.