In a move reminiscent of the "radical" Tea-Party demands of a few weeks back, the administration has decided:
- *OBAMA DELAYING ONLINE INSURANCE ENROLLMENT FOR SMALL BUSINESS
- *SMALL BUSINESSES SAID TO USE `DIRECT ENROLLMENT,' NOT WEBSITE
The one-year delay - to Nov 2014, follows the initial Oct 2013 delay citing "sometime in November 2013" availability. The delay applies only to the federal-run SHOP exchanges in almost three dozen states.
Via HHS,
“We’ve concluded that we can best serve small employers by continuing this offline process while we concentrate on both creating a smoothly functioning online experience in the SHOP Marketplace, and adding key new features, including an employee choice option and premium aggregation services, by November 2014,”
Via Bloomberg,
Small businesses won’t be able to use the federal government’s health-insurance website until November 2014 in most U.S. states, the latest delay for the Obama administration’s health-care system overhaul.
“Direct enrollment” will be available in the meantime, said an official with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services who asked not to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made public. The change applies to 36 states where the federal government is running insurance exchanges.
The exchanges for small businesses, available for companies with 50 or fewer full-time workers, had already been delayed from a scheduled Oct. 1, 2013, start.
So far so good eh?