Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) requested information on Tuesday to help determine the effectiveness of a program established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to plug small businesses into a competitive health insurance marketplace.
The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) was designed to provide small business owners access to affordable insurance plans that comply with ACA requirements. However, no data has been released on program enrollment.
Graves, the chairman of the House Small Business Committee, requested data on the SHOP program in a letter to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.
“As you know, the SHOPs opened, although without online enrollment and many promised features, on Oct. 1, 2013,” Graves said. “Over seven months later, we still do not have any federal and some state SHOP enrollment data. I continue to be concerned that HHS or CMS has not compiled and/or released this information.”
Graves requested information on the number of employees in each state that enrolled in SHOP and the number of small business employees who have paid the first month’s premium.
Graves also requested SHOP enrollment data in January. In response, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the data was not currently available. Sebelius said CMS was working to collect the enrollment data from insurance companies.