Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Small Group Reforms Moving
Legislation to introduce market-based reforms into the Small Group Health Insurance Plan could be voted out of the Senate Finance Committee this week. SB 637, sponsored by Senator Rob Garagiola, has received tentative approval from a Committee workgroup and would:
- Require the Maryland Health Care Commission to maintain health insurance price comparisons on their website for small employers;
- Allow for preexisting condition exclusions in the program, to encourage persons to obtain insurance before they get an illness;
- Eliminate the benefit floor, so that plans may be offered that are actuarially less expensive than a federally qualified HMO;
- Widen the plan’s rating bands in two steps (7/1/10 and 10/1/12) to provide less subsidy from young groups to older groups; and
- Allow a 3-year reduction or surcharge to rates based on employee health status for businesses that first enter the Small Group Plan.
The Maryland Chamber supports this legislation, as well as the crossfile, HB 674, filed by Delegate Dan Morhaim. These changes will encourage more young and healthy groups to enter the Small Group Plan and help to stabilize the rates for participating businesses. Contact Ron Wineholt for further information at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) .
For my small Hardware busisness the proposed changes woul be a problem. Why can’t we have a change in law that allows small employers to group together to get the lower rates avaible to larger groups. How about a flat rate across the board for all?