CMS to End Small Business ACA Enrollment in 2018

A recent announcement by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) revealed that it would no longer make enrollment for small-business plans available on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) marketplace, HealthCare.gov, beginning in 2018.

The agency explained that the Federally-Facilitated Small Business Health Options Program (FF-SHOP) was developed under the ACA, however, they say it did not sign-up a significant number of small employers. According to CMS, there are approximately 30 million small business in the country and less than 8000 or 0.1% currently participate in FF-SHOPs in 33 states. This totals coverage for less than 40,000 employees across the nation.

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“Our goal is to reduce ACA burdens on consumers and small businesses and make it easier for them to purchase coverage,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma, MPH, said in a press release. “The ACA has failed to provide affordable insurance to small business and to the American people. This new direction will help employers find affordable healthcare coverage for their employees and make the SHOP exchanges function more effectively.”

The decision has already received feedback from analysts who said the move is a large gesture. “Scaling back the SHOP exchange won’t really make much difference and is more of a symbolic move to chip away at the ACA,” Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation said to The Wall Street Journal.

Although the change will mean little to most customers, the decision does reflect the administration’s intent to use executive authority to undo portions of the health care law.

CMS further explained that state-based SHOPs that are not using the ACA marketplace can continue to operate as normal.

—Julie Gould