Happy New Year!     Breaking news, Harvard-Pilgrim and Tufts discussing merger,

Boston Globe story, 
 

With the start of a new year, employers are still looking for rate relief on health insurance premiums.  Renewals are still high with the majority between 10 - 20%.  
 

"Base Rate" or "Trend", ( the industry term where all small groups start ) is around 10%.   This is the figure the Mass. Division of Insurance (DOI) approves quarterly.  From "Trend", the carriers adjust for specific group demographics, including age changes, family size, group size, etc.  Also, nature of business and location factor in.

In 2011, you will see the carriers heavily market new products. These new products focus on Limiting or Tiering the hospitals utilized by employees.  In the past Fallon was the only plan offering a 2nd smaller network (Direct Network) at a lower cost (12 to 13% lower).   Now Tufts (Select Network) and Harvard (Focus Network) have added smaller networks that are also 12-13% less.  If your doctors and hospitals are in these smaller networks, these plans may work for you.  In general, the teaching hospitals like UMass or Mass General do not participate in the smaller networks.

Blue Cross, on the other hand, has come up with a different approach to tier the hospitals.    They do not limit your hospital choice.  If you go to a lower cost hospital on the list, (Enhanced or Standard) it will cost less.   If  you go to a higher cost hospital (Basic), it will cost more.    Click here to see how Blue Cross tiers hospitals in Massachusetts.

If you have any questions email Bill or Vanessa.  We hope you find these newsletters helpful, please forward to anyone who may find this of interest, by using the forward link at the bottom of this e-mail.   Thank you for your referrals.

To learn more about us, click here.  

Sincerely,


Bill Randell CLU,CHFC,        Vanessa Costa CLU,CHFC,