Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP)

Back to glossary

The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) helps small business owners provide medical and/or dental insurance to their employees. Some smaller employers qualify for tax credits if they enroll in SHOP insurance.

A small business can offer SHOP health and/or dental insurance to their employees if they:

Have between 1 and 50 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. Note: The business must have at least one full-time equivalent employee other than owners, partners, or their family members.
Offer coverage to all full-time employees
Enroll at least 70% of the employees offered insurance (with some exceptions)

Small business owners can use an agent or broker to enroll in SHOP insurance, or work with their insurance company. There’s no limited enrollment period for SHOP, so they can apply, pick plans, and enroll employees any time of year.

Related Content

You are leaving HealthCare.gov.

You are leaving HealthCare.gov.

You are leaving HealthCare.gov.

HealthCare.gov privacy settings

Category	Description	Status
Advertising	We use digital advertising tools, such as web beacons, to track the effectiveness of our digital advertising outreach efforts. This helps us identify ads that are helpful to consumers and efficient for outreach. Select “Don’t allow” to block this tracking.	Advertising Allow Don't allow
Social Media	If you share our content on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media accounts, we may track what HealthCare.gov content you share. This helps us improve our social media outreach. Select “Don’t allow” to block this tracking.	Social Media Allow Don't allow
Web Analytics	We use a variety of tools to count, track, and analyze visits to HealthCare.gov. This helps us understand how people use the site and where we should make improvements. Select “Don’t allow” to block this tracking.	Web Analytics Allow Don't allow