Question: There was no notice that the PPACA Small Business Insurance Market Delayed a Year. I believe this is for the Federal Marketplace. Will Covered CA delay?
Answer: The one-year delay in implementing ACA employer requirements does not apply to the small group market, only employers with over 50 employees. The delay for those employers affects all states.
Actually, the Federal Exchanges will have a SHOP in 2014, but it won’t have the employee choice option and integrated billing. What that means is that the employer will select the carrier and the employees will only be able to pick plans from one carrier. In CA, the employer will pick the metal tier, Silver for instance, and the employees can pick from any carrier and plan within that tier. This will require integrated billing from Covered California so that the employer gets one bill showing multiple carriers. The Feds could’t get that part ready in time for 2014, but will have it in 2015.
Actually I believe the federal version of SHOP small group exchange has also been delayed until 2015 in all of the federal states. CA indicated at that time that SHOP would go forward in Covered California without regard for what the federal exchanges were doing.