They got the same treatment big business did in the timing of the announcement:
"Rollout delayed 1 year for small-business health site" by Carla K. Johnson | Associated Press, November 28, 2013
CHICAGO — The Obama administration is delaying yet another aspect of the health care law, putting off until next November the launch of an online portal to the health insurance marketplace for small businesses.
The move, announced Wednesday, was needed because repairs are still underway to the troubled Healthcare.gov website, which is the primary way for individuals to apply for insurance, and that has priority, federal officials said.
In a conference call with reporters, administration officials said employers who want to buy marketplace plans for their workers now will need to go through an agent, broker, or insurance company this year, instead of using the government website.
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The small business marketplace, also called SHOP, was supposed to provide employers a new way to shop for coverage. The website was to make comparison shopping easier while promoting competition and keeping premiums down. The delay, which doesn’t affect states running their own marketplaces, was met with frustration.
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Ohio’s insurance director, Mary Taylor, a Republican who is also lieutenant governor, said the delay adds to the struggles of small businesses and ‘‘only further complicates an already chaotic insurance market.’’
Small businesses buying coverage will still be eligible for tax credits to bring down the cost, according to the administration. Starting next year, small businesses can claim a credit of up to 50 percent of their contributions to premiums for insurance purchased through the SHOP, and the administration is telling business owners that buying marketplace plans through brokers, agents, and insurers will count for that tax credit.
Wednesday’s setback was the latest in a stream of missed deadlines, including a postponement for a Spanish-language sign-up tool announced this week. The administration also recently pushed back the enrollment deadline for individuals: People who sign up by Dec. 23 can get coverage that starts Jan. 1. In an earlier delay, businesses with more than 50 workers were given until 2015 to meet the requirement to provide health insurance without paying a penalty. And the deadline for individuals to avoid penalties for failing to get coverage was pushed back six weeks.
Last week, the administration also announced a change in next year’s open enrollment season. It will start Nov. 15, 2014, a month later than scheduled, and finish Jan. 15, 2015, about five weeks later than planned. The midterm congressional elections are Nov. 4, and Republicans accused the administration of shifting dates for political reasons, to hide any spike in 2015 premiums.
The administration earlier had said it will allow insurance companies to extend for another year coverage under individual policies that don’t meet new coverage requirements. That move was a response to anger over a wave of more than 4 million policy cancellations.
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The only thing left on the plate as far as I can tell is the tax penalty.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Campaign Trail I$ Healthy For Obama
It got the subject out of the Globe for a few days.
