| Issue: # 12 |
February 12, 2008 |
Greetings!
Keeping you informed of the latest developments in the employee benefit marketplace.
If you have any questions, e-mail Bill or Vanessa. To learn more about Advantage Benefits, click here. Many of our clients have found these newsletters to be quite helpful and we have now set up a link to hold all the archived newsletters on-line that can be accessed at anytime.
If you know anyone, who may find this information of interest, please forward them this newsletter (there is a link on the bottom), and they can subscribe themselves.
Sincerely,
Bill Randell, CLU, CHFC Vanessa Costa, CLU,CHFC
Advantage Benefits Group, Inc. |
April 1st
Many Smaller Groups Renew
|
|
For many years, small businesses under 5 people were not accepted by the major carriers as direct clients. Instead, they were directed to an intermediary such as the local Chamber of Commerce or a Third Party Administrator (TPA). The employer would then join the organization typically at a cost of about $200 per year, then be eligible to participate in the plans. The rates through the local Chamber or TPA are not only the same as going direct, but you may even be charged a monthly billing or administrative fee. All of these groups renew April 1st, which is right around the corner.
As technology has improved, the HMO's now allow groups to go direct versus through a third party. In addition some carriers, like Blue Cross, are aggressively pursuing this small group market. If an employer joins an organization merely to buy health insurance, it is now time to question why spend the money for dues & billing fees.
E-mail us a request to quote today. We can help. |
| CommonwealthCare
Plan's Cost to Double |
|
Check out an interesting story in the Boston Globe about CommonwealthCare. This is the subsidized insurance program that provides free or subsidized insurance for low to moderate income residents. In order to qualify your income must be less then 300% of the Federal poverty level, as listed below from the CommonwealthCare's website:
| |
Family Income is equal to or less than |
|
Family size |
Monthly |
Annually |
| 1 |
$2,553 |
$30,636 |
| 2 |
$3,423 |
$41,076 |
| 3 |
$4,293 |
$51,516 |
| 4 |
$5,163 |
$61,956 |
| 5 |
$6,033 |
$72,396 |
| 6 |
$6,903 |
$82,836 |
| 7 |
$7,773 |
$93,276 |
| 8 |
$8,643 |
$103,716 |
| For each additional person add |
+$870 |
+$10,440 |
A person can not be eligible for CommonwealthCare, if they are eligible for insurance with their employer. This is why we suggested (in the last newsletter) to keep the hours requirement for benefits at the maximum allowed by law (35 hours), so part-timers would be eligible for CommonwealthCare.
Originally the Commonwealth had projected approximately 215,000 new subscribers. Enrollment, however, is reaching 342,000 at a projected cost of 1.35 BILLION annually. As a result the Commonwealth is looking to the Federal Government to cover roughly half of the program's cost.
How was that state so far off in their estimates? There are three reasons:
- Many self-employed "cash" businesses dropped their fully insured non-subsidized premium plans and moved to CommonwealthCare's subsidized insurance.
- Employers no longer offer insurance to their part-timers and they have moved to CommonwealthCare.
- Some small busineses have even cancelled their insurance, paid the employer penalty, if applicable, and then told employees to enroll with CommonwealthCare.
The original intent of CommonwealthCare was to be a vehicle to help uninsured of low to mod-income get health insurance. Instead, it has become an cheaper alternative for some who already had health insurance.
What next? The Commonwealth needs to drop the income levels to reduce the number of people eligible, add an asset test for eligibility not just income, and increase the premiums immediately. Otherwise the cost will get passed on to "us" once again. We could see new taxes, cigarettes are the first target, and fees to help cover this deficit.
|
| Pats 18-1
Still Hurts
|
Worst losses:
- Super Bowl to the Giants
- Game 6 to the Mets in 1986
- Game 7 to the Reds in 1975
- Bucky Dent and the Yanks in one game play-off in 1978
| |
|
