Obamacare’s marketplaces for small businesses fell far short of their enrollment goals, which they are “unlikely to reach” by the end of the year according to a new report from the congressional watchdog.

“Obamacare’s SHOPs have been fraught with errors and high costs from the very beginning,” said House Small Business Committee chairman Sam Graves in a statement on the report. “The administration touted the SHOP as a way for small companies and their employees to benefit from more health insurance competition and choice, and ultimately lower prices. Instead, we have seen that costs are increasing for nearly two-thirds of small businesses that provide health insurance to their employees and the majority of small business owners paid more per employee for health insurance in 2013 than in 2012.”

The state-based Small Business Health Options Programs enrollment “was significantly lower than anticipated and, at its current pace, is unlikely to reach expectations by the end of 2014,” says a new report from the Government Accountability office. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could not provide enrollment data for the federal exchanges, but CMS told GAO not to expect “major differences in enrollment trends” for the federal small-business exchanges.

“The lack of specific federal SHOP enrollment data confirms that CMS initially created no mechanism to monitor or measure its performance after enrollment began,” Graves said. “It is apparent that the Obama administration didn’t prioritize the SHOP exchange in the law. Small businesses and taxpayers deserve better.”

GAO cited a variety of factors for the low enrollment, including “the likelihood, according to stakeholders, that SHOP premiums will not be lower than non-SHOP premiums, may hinder future enrollment growth” and the fact that the tax credit designed to incentivize the enrollments is too small.

“Officials from the three SB- SHOPs we spoke to all said that enrollment has been low, with officials from two of the states indicating enrollment was lower than expected,” the report also says. “Officials from the third state said challenges related to implementation and the lack of resources for marketing the SHOP had already lowered their expectations for enrollment, though they acknowledged that enrollment was generally low. Further, other stakeholders, including issuer, employer, and agent and broker representatives, also said that enrollment to date has been lower than anticipated.”