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November 25, 2014 at 02:41 AM
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has had such a hard time starting the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) plans that it claims it can’t provide enrollment estimates — even for other federal agencies.
Analysts at the Urban Institute reported this summer that one challenge for the managers of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) exchange system is winning the hearts of benefits brokers.
But the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the HHS agency in charge of the exchange program, still includes challenges to broker love in a new HHS exchange SHOP presentation. Some brokers may refuse to do business with the SHOP plans on principle, because of opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the PPACA exchange system, but some parts of the presentation might irk even brokers who have a positive or neutral attitude toward the exchange program.
To read more about what’s in the presentation, read on.
1. Employers can’t apply for SHOP coverage through an HHS-run on paper.
Small employer benefits managers who tried to sign up for SHOP coverage a year ago might prefer to work with quiet, dependable, steady paper. They might flash back to horrific memories of entering complicated employee census information by hand, then watching as the HealthCare.gov enrollment website froze and ruined al of the work.
But HHS is not offering any concessions for those traumatized by HealthCare.gov.
“No paper applications will be distributed or accepted,” officials say.
