Small businesses slow to embrace Obamacare

November 15 01:00 2015 by ushadmin

After nearly two years in operation and millions of dollars spent in development, the small business health insurance exchange created by the Affordable Care Act is struggling to catch on.

Nationally, about 85,000 people, from 11,000 small businesses, have coverage through the online marketplace known as the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, according to the latest federal data released in May. Those totals do not include employers that began coverage in 2014 and have not yet renewed their coverage through HealthCare.gov for 2015.

That’s less than 1 percent of people with coverage in the U.S. small group insurance market that in 2013 had about 16.7 million people enrolled in health plans, reported Mark Farrah Associates, a market data firm.

The Congressional Budget Office in January estimated 1 million people would enroll for coverage through SHOP in 2015. No one expected the SHOP exchange to have a large enrollment, but industry officials say its early response has been substantially smaller than expected.

“When you look at the cost and look at the take up rate, it certainly raises questions” about whether SHOP has been worthwhile, said Alissa Fox, senior vice president of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. “We never thought the business equation made sense.”

Employers with fewer than 50 full-time workers are eligible to buy coverage on SHOP. The federal government even offers businesses an incentive, a tax credit worth up to half of an employer’s share of their workers’ premiums. Among the conditions: The firm must employ fewer than 25 workers and their average salary cannot exceed $50,000. The credit is hardly used in high-cost areas of the country where salaries are higher.

Similar to the health insurance marketplace for individuals, the federal government operates the SHOP exchange in 34 states and 16 other states plus the District of Columbia run their own small business exchanges…