Private Exchanges Likely to Grow in 2014
The marketplace for individuals seeking insurance is slowly (like molasses) improving, while the public options for small business seem to be disappearing altogether. Individuals have a March 31st deadline to get coverage but small businesses can select coverage at any time during the year. Healthcare.gov has indicated that over four million have signed up through the federal exchange. Many Small Business Health Options Programs (SHOP) are experiencing the same types of issues that the individual exchanges have seen. Enrollment numbers are abysmally low.
The most recent reports available indicate that Kentucky has signed up 14 companies, Colorado has 101 and Connecticut has 106. No numbers are available for enrollment in SHOP on the federal level. Probably not a good sign.
Recently, California took their small business marketplaces offline because of technical issues and Maryland fired their small business marketplace exchange developer and halted implementation. California is making improvements while no new timetable has been announced for Maryland and they are considering using the federal exchange for small business.
Small Business frustration grows. But why? With such small numbers signing up it’s not likely we’ll get the full picture just yet. There’s some indication that premiums are as much as 90% higher in the exchange. This might cause employers with 50 or fewer employees to wait another year before deciding on an exchange (when they’re forced to because their old policies don’t exist any more) or to decide to not offer healthcare entirely – an option they have.
The news for private health exchanges continues on the upswing. In February, the nation’s largest private exchange reported a 50% increase in enrollment in the last three months of 2013. Private exchanges, unlike the public ones we hear so much about, offer greater flexibility, non-health insurance options, un-matched security and dependability. We expect the news for private exchanges to continue to grow. HR professionals across the nation continue to look to private exchanges as the best, most reliable option.