Health Insurance Marketplace is Open- What Now?

The Health Insurance Marketplace (aka State Health Exchanges) opened November 15th for individuals to enroll in non-employer sponsored plans for 2015. Why might a small business care about this date?

Ease of signing up for a SHOP plan- small businesses wanting to purchase plans for their employees on the exchange can sign up any month, but in order to qualify, 70% or more of employees have to sign up. If you can’t meet that 70% threshold, than you flat-out don’t qualify. However, November 15th marks a one month window where you can enroll in a SHOP plan with less than 70% of full-time employees partaking. During this window is definitely a prime-time to investigate if you are considering a group health plan this next year and aren’t sure if you’ll meet the 70% sign up rate.

Online SHOP enrollment launch (finally!)- last year due to difficulties, the online portion of SHOP wasn’t launched, but it finally has! Forget the paper form headache from last year and browse the online exchange with much more ease. Check out what’s available in your state!

If you are ready to enhance your current HR set up, consider CheckMark’s Online HR Support Center to boost your current HR department with extra resources and stay up-to-date on ever changing regulations.