Key Provision of Obamacare Delayed for Small Businesses
The healthcare exchanges for small businesses have been delayed one more year.
Small business owners have to wait one more year for a key part of the Affordable Care Act to take effect.
The Obama administration announced this week that the small business insurance exchange--which lets employees negotiate the best healthcare rate with insurance companies in a competitive marketplace--won’t be ready until 2015, a year after its intended debut.
What does this mean? Essentially, many small business employees will have only one insurance option in 2014.
The Obama administration said the setback was due to “operational challenges,” while reports said insurers didn’t craft insurance plans that met federal standards in time.
“We’re disappointed, because it removes an attractive feature of the exchange that small businesses really want,” said John Arensmeyer, CEO of the Small Business Majority, adding that the delay doesn't mean the exchanges are going away. "While we're disappointed by this particular decision, it's just one component in a much bigger puzzle."
This delay occurs only in the 33 states where the federal government is running the exchanges; there are a few states, including California, in which the state is running the exchange, and these states are on track to meet the 2014 deadline.
