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Health insurance evolution Businesses try to stay nimble as act rolls out
Local officials brace for rising fees from law By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com
By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com
and JONATHAN BILYK jbilyk@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – In coming years, the business of providing health insurance as a workplace benefit could drastically change as various provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act take effect. Sycamore-based Ideal Industries, which sells tools and electrical equipment internationally, has worked with consultants who’ve helped design health insurance plans to analyze the potential impact. And the company is waiting to see how the act and the Oct. 1 opening of the Health Insurance Marketplace will affect its business. The ACA, signed in 2010 with provisions being phased in through 2020, is meant to make health care more accessible and affordable for all Americans. It requires all Americans to have insurance and all businesses with a certain number of employees to offer it or pay a fine. The Health Insurance Marketplace, also known as the Exchange, is one of many of the act’s initiatives that will allow people to purchase their own health insurance. Tom Nohl, total rewards manager with Ideal Industries, said he thinks many employers are waiting to see whether the Health Insurance Marketplace has value. Ideal is waiting because the
Photos by Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Elias Pedraza, a worker at Doty and Sons in Sycamore, prepares to disassemble a form Wednesday morning at the shop. The owners of Doty and Sons currently pay for their workers’ health insurance, but that may change in the coming months.
Eye on the
Affordable Care Act Act Affordable Care This is the second in an occasional series from the Daily Chronicle that will examine the multiple changes to health care in America in 2014 due to the federal Affordable Care Act. Stories will focus on how local families, businesses and health care systems will be affected by the various aspects of the law. Eric Doty begins stripping a form and resetting a bench at Doty and Sons on Wednesday in Sycamore.
The DeKalb County government might have to come up with an extra $200,000 next year to cover the cost of health insurance for its employees. Peter Stefan, the county finance director, says provisions of the Affordable Care Act will increase health insurance costs for the county by about 4 percent for the 307 employees who receive it. The county pays 75 percent of its employees health insurance premiums. With the increased fees, those percentages may rise. “Is it worth it? How many more people will have insurance? Is that a reasonable cost?” Stefan said. “Everyone is going to have a different opinion on that.” The Affordable Care Act, signed in 2010 with provisions being phased in through 2020, is meant to make health care more accessible and affordable for all Americans. It requires all Americans to have insurance and all businesses with more than 50 employees to offer it or pay a fine. That includes local governments and schools. Government officials around DeKalb County still are gathering information on how the Affordable Care Act will affect them, but several of them know they will have to pay additional fees to fund research for treating diseases and paying a portion of the cost for people with large health insurance claims.
Voice your opinion: How do you think the Affordable Care Act will affect your life? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com. See ROLLOUT, page A5
See LOCAL, page A6
U of Illinois band program head quits amid investigation By DAVID MERCER The Associated Press CHAMPAIGN – The official who oversaw the University of Illinois’ bands program resigned after it emerged that he sold tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of school instruments and put the money in personal bank accounts. Robert Rumbelow, who had been the school’s director of bands since 2010, stepped down Thursday after writing a check to the school for $86,000. Rumbelow was expected to pay back another $1,600 Fri-
day that the school said he still owed, his lawyer Dan Jackson said. Police, who are investigating, say Rumbelow began selling the instruments in 2011 and that they continued into this year. They say he made sales on eBay and elsewhere and that a Tennessee school district was among his buyers. “Seventy-six instruments appear to be missing and some of them on the inventory list were declared as having ‘zero value’ even though they were sold by Rumbelow using eBay and through other contacts,”
university police Lt. Matt Myrick said in a statement, noting that Rumbelow compiled the list. “In one instance, four clarinets were sold for $5,500 each. The payment for these clarinets was in the form of a check made out to Rumbelow.” Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz said Friday that her office is still reviewing the police investigation and hasn’t filed any charges. University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said that although Rumbelow repaid the money, that “won’t negate the possibil-
ity of charges, although it certainly is something to consider.” She declined to comment further about the matter. Rumbelow couldn’t be reached for comment Friday, but Jackson described him as an absent-minded professor type who made an innocent error in judgment with the best of intentions. He insisted that Rumbelow didn’t spend any of the money and that he sold the instruments because he was told when he was brought in to upgrade the band program that he’d have to raise the money himself for a feasibili-
ty study of what it would take to improve or replace the program’s facilities. Jackson said Rumbelow “knew that he was going around the university to some extent” by selling the instruments, but didn’t know that selling them and keeping the money in his own accounts was a serious problem. “He had the idea that he would get much better returns not trading them in, but to sell them, and develop funds,” Jackson said. “And he did that. But being a musician and not a lawyer or a businessman, he
didn’t do that in a way that he would want to do again.” “He was dedicated beyond good judgment, maybe,” the attorney said, adding that he’s optimistic that Rumbelow won’t be charged. Rumbelow came to Illinois from Columbus State University in Georgia, where he worked 14 years and was director of wind ensemble activities. His role at Illinois, which came with a $140,000 salary last school year, was to oversee the program that includes all of the university’s bands and ensembles.
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