New Avenues for Health Insurance By Aaron W. Mitchell, REBC
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n four short months, Healthcare Reform will offer insurance to the uninsured. It will eliminate the ability for an insurance company to deny coverage for a medical care because it was a “pre-existing condition.” It will financially penalize those who choose to go uninsured. It will establish minimum essential benefits and establish maximum out of pocket limits. It will even limit the range of premiums. These rules will exist in any health plan available. As employers and individuals, we have no control over the parameters that all health plans will follow. Your employees will benefit from many of these new plan requirements. Your firm’s objective will continue to be to identify the best place to secure insurance. This is where the real challenge and the real opportunity arises. Healthcare Reform has created many new places in which to purchase health insurance for your employees. These new platforms have been labeled Exchanges.
These Exchanges will come in many shapes and sizes. There are public exchanges for individuals and small groups. There are private exchanges for individuals and groups of all sizes. An Exchange is quite plainly “a place designed for selling insurance and other benefits.” Know that all Exchanges are not created equal and may vary greatly in the plan designs and premiums. When we look to next year, we eagerly await the release of plans, designs and prices under the Marketplace and the SHOP exchange offered to Delaware residents and Delaware firms with 50 employees or less. There are already private exchanges in existence and many more that will begin in 2014 and beyond. Many will present options that will feel like group plans. Others will be designed to let each employee select the health insurance company and plan that is right for them. These may be available to firms of all sizes. The plans offered in 2014 will be the result of years of planning, yet we still are left waiting to see if we will be 14
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paying less for more coverage, or paying more for less coverage. Insurance carriers are being asked for the first time to provide plans and prices without medical underwriting. It is inevitable that there will be many changes in 2014, 2015, and beyond as we adjust to this new world of health insurance. Some firms will find that the new legislation will not have a significant impact on their group health insurance premiums; others may see the largest increases (or even decreases) that we have seen in decades. Individuals buying coverage will find that the rates today may be a fraction of the plans available on January 1st. October will bring the answers to many of these questions. For those firms whose plans renew in January, February, or March, the best advice we can provide is to be patient, define your firm’s goals for health insurance, and then take the time to evaluate both the current outlets for health insurance, as well as the new Exchanges. Stay tuned in the coming months for feedback on the new rates and plans yet to be released for 2014. This is part one in a series of articles on the new Exchanges available for Delaware Firms and Individuals. DSBIS is a wholly owned insurance brokerage subsidiary of the Delaware State Bar Association. DSBIS serves all insurance needs for attorneys, their firms, their families, and their clients. DSBIS was formed by Delaware attorneys for Delaware attorneys. Aaron Mitchell is DSBIS’ lead marketing representative, coordinating all lines of insurance. He specializes in group benefits and life insurance. Contact Aaron at (302) 397-0170.
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DSBIS UPDATE
Exchanges…