UPDATE: Small private duty agencies will have to wait another year before being able to enroll online in the federal Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP). But those small businesses still will be able to enroll in SHOP through an insurer, agent or broker next year.
 
The federal SHOP program will give employers with 50 or fewer full-time employees (FTEs) a choice of qualified health plans, display them in one place and make it easier to compare them based on price and benefits, a CMS spokesman says.
 
Unfortunately, CMS recently announced that the program will not offer online enrollment until November 2014, a one-year delay. The Obama administration said the delay was necessary as it prioritized fixes to the individual health exchange, according to the Washington Post.