Small businesses know the power of collectives.
From agricultural co-ops to trade associations, small businesses frequently pool their resources and increase their buying power, leveraging better deals for their members.
That's the very idea behind the Small-Business Health Options Program.
State-based exchanges will go online in 2014, aiming to offer more affordable health insurance options in the individual market. At the same time, states will also create exchanges for small businesses. The Affordable Care Act leaves it up to states on whether these exchanges will be combined or run separately.
A series of articles last week in Health Affairs, supported by the Commonwealth Fund, lays out the benefits, pitfalls and possibilities of SHOP exchanges.
As Editor-in-Chief Susan Denzter noted, "These insurance stores for the small-group market ... sound simple in concept, but as [the articles] make clear, they are anything but."
http://www.californiahealthline.org/road-to-reform/2012/making-a-place-for-small-businesses-in-exchanges.aspx
Hat tip: California Healthline/ California Healthcare Foundation
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