Enrollment for small businesses in some Obamacare exchanges will be delayed by a month, Politico and MSNBC reported Thursday.
Politico reported:
The Obama administration is delaying another piece of Obamacare – this time postponing online enrollment in some of the small-business exchanges scheduled to open Oct. 1, sources tell POLITICO.
Small businesses looking to enroll in coverage on so-called SHOP exchanges run by the federal government will be able to submit a paper application on Oct. 1 – they just won’t be able to enroll online.
MSNBC’s Alex Wagner asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about the delay in a live interview Thursday, and Sebelius confirmed that while rates will be available to view on Oct. 1, when the exchanges are set to open, small businesses will not be able to buy insurance for another month.
"What is happening with the SHOP Exchange—the small business exchange where for the first time small business owners will be able to compare plans side-by-side—that will be available on Oct. 1," Sebelius told Wagner.
"Then beginning Nov. 1, do the online enrollment," she went on to say. "Again, Alex, these are plans that don't start until Jan. 1."
The delay is just the latest misstep in the administration’s implementation of the president’s signature domestic legislation.
Earlier this year the administration delayed several parts of the law, including the requirement that states verify the eligibility of those receiving federal subsidies.
Many Republicans are calling for a delay in the law, while some are calling for the law to be defunded completely.
The House of Representatives last week approved a bill that funds all of the government except Obamacare. Both President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) have pledged to kill this bill to continue funding for the controversial law.