Feds talk SHOP

Federal exchange regulators are trying to protect small business owners against efforts to make applications more complicated.

Gary Cohen, the director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, hammered home the need for simplicity in a new memo.

“Requests for information from application filers should minimize the burden on the applicant,” Cohen says.

Exchange managers shouldn’t add questions unrelated to the small-group exchange enrollment process, Cohen says.

Cohen issued the memo to give managers of the Small Business Health Options Program exchanges guidelines on customizing SHOP applications.