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SHOP exchanges for small businesses

 

Small business owners will also be using the exchanges, via the SHOP portal. The SHOP exchanges are part of “the exchange” in each state. This will just be a separate page on the same exchange web site (except in Utah and possibly Mississippi, where HHS will operate the individual exchange and the state will operate the SHOP exchange).

 

For 2014, small businesses with up to 50 employees will be able to use the SHOP exchanges to select a plan and receive tax credits to help cover premiums if they are eligible. (They must have fewer than 25 employees earning an average salary of less than $50,000 each.) As of 2016, businesses with up 1o 100 FTE employees will be able to use SHOP exchanges.

 

Starting in 2014, the small business health insurance tax credits will only be available via the SHOP exchanges. These credits have already been available since 2010, but once the SHOP exchanges open, employers who qualify to get the credits must obtain their health plan via their state’s SHOP exchange.

 

In almost all cases, the states that are running their own individual exchanges are also running their own SHOP exchanges. In states where HHS is running the individual exchange, it’s also running the SHOP exchange (state-by-state info available here).

 

Starting in 2015, the SHOP exchanges will be enhanced to allow employers to select several health insurance carriers and designate a defined contribution that they will pay towards their employees’ coverage. Then the employees will be able to use the SHOP portal to choose their own coverage from among the choices available.

 

http://www.healthinsurance.org/learn/know-your-health-insurance-exchanges/