The technical problems and delays that have plagued the Affordable Care Act health insurance website for consumers have left some metro Atlanta small-business owners less than enthusiastic about joining a similar marketplace targeting them.
Businesses that have more than 50 workers are required to provide health insurance options for their workers under the law, but the Small Business Health Options Program hopes to attract businesses with 50 or fewer workers, which are not required to provide coverage.
Healthcare.gov was scheduled to begin enrolling small businesses on Oct. 1. Now the site won’t be ready for them until November 2014, according to published reports.
Julian Fuller, owner of the Atlanta charter bus service Proview Tours, said the exchanges have to be reliable and work properly if they ever hope to benefit consumers and small businesses.
Fuller said his five employees have declined the company’s offer to provide access to coverage, saying they could not afford their portion of premiums under a group plan. They are either seeking coverage through the health law’s individual exchanges or under a spouse’s plan. But he, too, has had problems getting information from the individual exchange.
“I feel that the Affordable Care Act is doable and feasible for the individual who does not have insurance,” Fuller said. But he added the system’s problems have worked against it.
Chad Massaker, managing principal at the Atlanta IT outsourcing company Carceron, said the exchange may be an option for some small businesses but his company does not see it as a viable one now.
Massaker said he has offered coverage to his half-dozen employees, most of whom are young. He said they have declined either because they don’t see having coverage as important or they also are covered by someone else’s plan.
Massaker said he may consider the small-business exchange next year, after his own insurance plan is up for renewal and if he hires more workers.
“I don’t think the way Obamacare has played out has been very good,” the businessman said. “Would I use it (the exchange)? I guess I’d consider it as an option.”
Kevin Kuhlman, manager of legislative affairs for the National Federation of Independent Business, a small-business trade group, called the delay in the rollout of the small-business exchange “a disappointment but not a surprise.”
“The continued delays add to uncertainty and contribute to the decision of many owners to take early renewals of their small-group plans,” Kuhlman said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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