Changes

=='''SHOP Exchange'''==

The SHOP Marketplace or Exchange (Small Business Health Options Program, is a provision of the ACA designed to get small businesses lower health insurance rates using group plans and tax credits for providing employee-sponsored health coverage.

The SHOP exchange did not open up to employers with fewer than 50 FTE until 2015 and only just opened up in 2016 to businesses with 100 FTE or less.

SHOP allows for increased employer choice functions, enabling employers to choose from a larger pool of available coverage options for employees [http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc501935/m1/1/high_res_d/R43181_2015Jan15.pdf] The financial advantage of purchasing insurance trough the SHOP exchanges is uncertain, as insurers in the marketplace cannot charge premiums based on health status, and workers using the SHOP exchanges, will become ineligible for subsidies when they buy their own insurance [http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st356]. What SHOP does offer small businesses is increased buying power in the group-plan market (an advantage only larger firms used to possess) and a simpler way to compare prices, coverage, and quality of plans [http://obamacarefacts.com/insurance-exchange/shop-exchange/].

===Small Employer Health Insurance Tax Credit===

There is also a temporary health insurance tax credit available to firms with 25 or fewer employees and making less than $50,000 in annual wages, but many firms do not meet the strict requirements necessary for obtaining the tax credit that would cover up to 50% of employer contributions to employees' health insurance premiums (up to 35% for tax-exempt employers):