SHOP Option Delay Resulted from Insurer Feedback

According to Employee Benefit News, the delay of the feature of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act intended to help small businesses was because of concerns raised by insurers, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in response to a question at a hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee. Employees at small businesses were supposed to have a choice of health plans in a network of online insurance marketplaces, called exchanges, starting Oct. 1. Instead, their bosses will have to choose a single plan to cover their entire workforce, the administration said last month. The decision came after feedback from insurers, whom she didn’t name, and other parties. Workers will be able to choose their own plans starting in 2015, Sebelius said.