The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a brief set of FAQs addressing the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) – only Marketplaces. In this FAQ, CMS clarified that a state generally may not operate a SHOP Marketplace while the Individual Health Insurance Marketplace is operated by the federal government. However, if the state submitted a blueprint and received conditional approval from CMS, the state may request to operate its own SHOP Marketplace in 2014. Beginning in 2015, all states would have this option.
This FAQ comes not long after a general delay in the way SHOP Marketplaces were intended to operate. Instead of an employer in the small group market going through a SHOP Marketplace to provide its employees a choice of various coverage options, the employer can only pick one plan for all employees. The ability for employees to choose from a menu of different health insurance options will not be available until 2015.
For more information, see the original FAQ from CMS.
