Health Insurance Rate Increases: ACA's Small Business Health Options Program.

   The Affordable Care Act requires individuals to purchase Health Coverage.

   Lost in the confusing melee over that so-called "mandate," the ACA also provides for many other things.  One of them is the Small Business Health Options Program, or "SHOP".

   Many of SHOP's features have been informatively analyzed elsewhere.  See, e.g., Chris Fleming's post on February 9, 2012 on Health Affairs Blog, "Small Business Health Insurance Exchanges:  Potential and Pitfalls," and links in it to other sites.

   The purpose of this post is to focus attention on one 'mandate' in the ACA's SHOP provisions that deserves to be understood.  SHOPs are statutorily required to provide Employees of small businesses with a range of lower-cost health plans than might otherwise be available to them.  If the SHOPs do not succeed in reaching that goal, among others, then the SHOPs will go out of business.

"Reduced Healthcare Premiums, or Bust!"

The author is Co-Chair of the Health, Life and Disability Insurance Subcommittee of the American Bar Association's Insurance Coverage Law Committee.

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