Arizona is a "Mom & Pop" state with the majority of our businesses being small family owned ones. For groups of 2-12 I expect most of them to drop the group plan now that GI has eliminated the niche of lenient medical underwriting. For groups of 12-25, I expect half and half. But for groups of 25 and more, I expect many of them to want to keep the group plan to compete with the fringe benefits offered by their competitors in the larger group space. That also depends on industry. Of course, restaurants and landscapers may not keep the group plan, but engineering companies, IT Tech, and other such groups that compete for talented labor will want to compete with the large groups. In these types of groups most of the employees won't qualify for subsidies anyway, and employers may feel that a group plan offers a safe place of quality benefits in a world of narrow-network HMO style plans.
Florida Exchange Rates Out at 5 PM Today
- Thread starter Grouper
- Start date
I'm telling my small groups to group their plans on January 1st and move everyone to individual plans, either on or off the exchange.
If you aren't already, get educated about HRA's, that is the pre-tax solution for small businesses that allows them to provide health insurance contributions to employees without taxation.
They can use an HRA to provide the equivalent employee contribution and this is a true win-win because if the group coverage stays in effect then dependents can't qualify for subsidies.
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I am so confused about all these new laws and taxes and just basic crap. I sell individual health insurance through UnitedHealth One, although my agency, sells group through BC/BS. We are located in Putnam county. My question is.. What do I tell my clients when they ask me if they should pay the penalties or just try to get insurance. What is the cheapest route? I live in small community and a lot of people around here are unemployed or can't afford health insurance anyway. There are no high incomes around here. Most everyone works part time (under 20 hours) so their employers don't have to offer health insurance. I have no idea what to tell people. I don't fully understand what is going to happen myself.
There is 3+ years of information on this forum, you can't expect anyone without a vested interest to even try to explain it.
My suggestion, if you want to do the right thing for your clients, is to start spending time each day getting yourself educated, that's what each of us have done for years.
You may want to rethink advising HRA's for now. See this thread and the document i posted from chamber of commerce
http://www.insurance-forums.net/for...-forum/updates-zane-health-reform-t54564.html
Which is what I have been trying to do. That was my sole reason for even joining this forum. It is still hard to understand and sift between what may be just speculation and what is fact. I have kept myself up to date on the ACA as much as possible but what is going to happen still baffles me. Call me stupid if you like, which you probably already are, but I would like a simple explanation. Is Florida going to have an exchange, or not? I read Crist said no, yet consensus on here is yes. Is the Medicaid program going to expand, or not?
Using myself as an example, I am new to insurance so I don't make a whole lot of money yet. I can't afford health insurance on my own, I can't get group coverage, I don't qualify for Medicaid, and I am at 48% of the poverty level so I can't even get subsidies. What should I suggest I tell people who fall through the cracks like me.
Feel free to bash me or look down at me all you want but not everyone on here has been in the business 20 + years and knows everything already.
Thanks for the heads up, it's obviously 180 degrees apart from the information Zane regularly puts out in their newsletters.
I don't know how the government could possibly enforce this, there aren't enough IRS agents now to handle the workload.
2, I agree that one must get themselves educated, but much of the info has resembled the old Charlie Brown trying to kick the football with Lucy pulling it away every time. We're just now finding out who is in and who is not. My Humana rep keeps saying " will have info, soon." It's the 11th hr, and nobody can even tell me what I get paid to sell this stuff. Congress is still bent on blocking the funding, etc.,etc.
Crazy.
I'm not 'bashing' you, I'm telling you how someone like myself views your request for information. I'm also not saying you are stupid, I am saying an agent on this forum would have to be stupid to share 3+ years of his/her learning with a newbie who not only has an agency to provide guidance but hasn't taken the time to do any learning on his/her own.
Why hasn't your agency, who profits from your sales, taken the time to educate you? This is a rhetorical question, of course.
I'll give you one thing-Florida has no exchange, the state is one of those using the FFE (Federally Funded Exchange).
