“On Friday, HHS all but admitted that at least one element of the exchanges won’t be entirely ready on time: the Small business Health Options Program (SHOP) — the health insurance exchanges ObamaCare set up to serve small employers. The SHOP exchanges were supposed to be fully in place by January 1, 2014. But newly released regulations propose delaying a key part of the small business exchanges for a year: the employee choice provisions that were arguably the most significant feature of the program.”
“When Obamacare was being debated 2009, proponents banked heavily on its transformative potential. When skeptics caviled about the costs, the reformers pointed out that there were all sorts of pilots, and delivery system reforms like these ACO demonstration projects, that hadn’t gotten scored as cost-saving by the Congressional Budget Office… So far, pretty much every one of those promised improvements has underwhelmed, and the skeptics have been vindicated.”