More teething problems for Obamacare – small business access delayed

Small businesses won’t be able to buy health insurance via HealthCare.gov until next year, U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration announced Wednesday.

The delay in functionality for the so-called SHOP exchanges represents the latest setback in the Obama administration’s efforts to implement the 3-year-old Affordable Care Act. The development also comes just days before HealthCare.gov, the online portal for individual and family health coverage in more than 30 states, is supposed to be working better after its troubled first 2 months.

Small businesses that want to utilize the federally run SHOP exchanges, and the tax credits worth up to half the cost of insurance that are available to some firms, will have to sign up through an insurance agent or broker or directly with a health insurance company, an administration official explained via email. In an attempt to mitigate the failure of the online application and enrollment process that was supposed to be in place, small businesses can submit their applications for tax credits whenever they file their taxes rather than in advance, the official wrote.

The delay of the SHOP exchanges is partly a byproduct of the administration’s scramble to get HealthCare.gov reliably working for individual consumers..

Read more: Huffington Post