Health plans available to small businesses in health insurance exchanges are on average about 7 percent cheaper than comparable plans offered elsewhere, reports The Washington Post.

The newspaper cites an analysis conducted by a team of researchers at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

“It’s definitely surprising,” said Jon Gabel, a senior fellow at the center, noting that many insurers had expressed disinterest in selling plans on the SHOP exchanges. “So, I expected them to price those plans higher than the plans sold off the SHOP, but it didn’t turn out that way—in fact, just the opposite.”

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