Small-Business Health Plans headed for full Senate

[zara]

I think this would give us more options for employment.....


<span style="font-family:Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%">Your Help Needed: Small-Business Health Plans headed for full Senate vote!

The full Senate is expected to vote on Small-Business Health Plan legislation for the very first time in early May. Contact your senators TODAY and tell them small businesses MUST HAVE Small-Business Health Plans to be able to provide affordable health insurance to their employees.

Small-Business Health Plans would level the playing field for small businesses by allowing them to band together across state lines, through their membership in an association, to purchase more affordable health insurance. Unions and large corporations already have this ability; small businesses should too! The U.S. House of Representatives has passed Small-Business Health Plan legislation numerous times. Contact your senators TODAY and tell them to support Small-Business Health Plans. </span></span>


http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webret...alertid=8167701 (http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=/nfib/issues/alert/?alertid=8167701)

[raggedyann1]

Zara,

California already has a law along these lines. Any small business with 2 or more employees can get group health insurance. Having recently checked into this for my hubby since he was on my insurance and the cobra ran out last December we were checking all avenues for insurance for him. But he is self-employed and has no employees.

Remember there is a hippa law - requiring any insurance company that sells individual and family plans in your state to offer 2 different hippa plans. You have 63 days from the date your involvement in group health insurance ends to enroll in such insurance.

The long and short of it was that the small business group plan was as expensive per employee ( with 2 employees) as the cheapest hippa plan we found for hubby. It was quite a sticker shock so to speak. We had very good insurance at a very low cost even when on cobra and having to pay the full cost. I learned that the company I worked for was a self- funding insurance so my husband was not eligible for cal cobra.

Cal Cobra is in California - it is available for any employee whose cobra has run out at an extension up to 36 months total time between cobra and cal cobra. There are exceptions one of which was self-funded insurance.

Karen

[lazylegs]

In the meantime some communties offer small businesses group insurance through the Chamber of Commerce.

Take care,
Lazylegs

[zara]

So Karen, if I left my current job and applied for individual insurance under HIPPA laws, would I be able to obtain coverage at the same rate or at least a reasonable rate? I am not diagnosed yet, so that would help, but the amount of my insurance utilization has been above average and I think that would raise red flags. I just fear that even if I do get individual coverage it would take something equivalent to a mortgage payment to cover the premium!

I'm not sure if the bill that is coming before the senate will cover self-employed individuals with no employees. I was wondering the same thing. It would be nice to have my own little business--something part-time to cover an insurance premium and give me a little spending money. So, i'm going to ask more questions and do some more research just for my peace of mind. I need to have options. Psychologically, if i feel trapped i got nuts....but that's another thread. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/doh.gif

Lazylegs, i didn't think about our local chamber of commerce. I'll give them a call to see what they have. Before my current position I worked for a company with four employees (ironically, I was the healthiest!) and our insurance kept creeping up because of one lady with a bad case of GERD. Plus, they were smokers.

I wonder if the commerce would give me a list of companies that have coverage through them, if it is provided?

[zara]

Ok, I think I'm finally understanding this after reading about Cobra. (Even though Karen and Dudley have tried educating me before! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif ) Insurance companies cannot count any pre-existing conditions against me if I don't let my coverage lapse.

Does anybody have any real life experience with this? Can you actually get affordable insurance this way?

[zara]

It must really suck if you first get sick and work for a company that does not provide health insurance...

[macfamily53]

Dear Nikki

Wow I just got an eduacation style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif from reading this thread. MY husband works right now for a very small company of about 20 people maybe but soon to be permanent in another job thank goodness for that but anyway. Is that true that they raise the insurance because of other peoples health because i just wondered if i was one of there reasons for that in his insurance and it keeps going up the premiums. Huh you got me thinking about it. Of course there is another gal that has to sleep with oxygen and smoke so maybe not alll me style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif . Just found that to be very interesting and had never heard that before. Well anyway good luck with figuring this out for your self. I really know how much stress this job you are in is causing you.

Tammy style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/hugbetter.gif

[zara]

My old boss said our insurance went up a lot because of how much it was utilized. I'm not sure if that is a fact or if she was just speculating and that is just what happens to premiums over time--maybe a little of both??? style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/shrug.gif

[raggedyann1]

Hi all,

Yes people who are sick affect the cost of health insurance. The smaller the company the bigger the effect of 1 sick person is.

Nikki the hippa insurance we got my husband is $507 per month and has decent co-pays for office visits and medications. It does mean he is in an HMO now but they had the best coverage of meds with no maximum on what they would pay for meds. We had been paying in cobra $388 a month for both of us. I worked for a huge international company that self-funded their health insurance that is why our health insurance in cobra was so very low. Remember with cobra you pay the employers part and the employees part.

When I check the price for small business health insurance if my hubby hired an employee the cost was over $500 for each person and the employer was required to cover at least 50% of the policy I think, that is California law.

If you aren't on medications at all and don't have a dx then in theory you are eligible for standard individual health insurance which is considerably cheaper than hippa based ins is. Even if you just have one medication it is still possible to get individual health insurance.

Karen

[zara]

Can they up the rate on me every year based on switching me to high risk categories or are there protections against that sort of thing?

[raggedyann1]

Nikki,

They can never cancel you but they can up your rate everyyear. Your best bet is to check the website for the Utah State Insurance Commisioner ( or some such title) and see what the health insurance laws are in your state.

Karen