2009-11-16 22:06:37 - Charlotte, NC heaklth care advocate claims benefits CAN be less costly for both employers and employees

Charlotte Health Care Reformer: Employers, Employees Can Save Up to 50% on Benefits



What group health insurance brokers don’t want either to know



For Immediate Release




Contact:

Tom Hamilton

866-313-1112

info@e2beneflex.com

Sales.ZaneHRA.com/e2BeneFLEX



Charlotte: With 25% to 30% increases in group health insurance over last year, the recession-fueled struggle for many North Carolina businesses to survive takes on added weight as the ability to reduce employer health benefits expense becomes even more critical.



There is a

way, however, for North Carolina employers to maintain full health benefits for their employees and families while controlling employer costs



Personal Health policies are the better way



The solution is to cancel employer-sponsored group policy programs entirely and give employees a tax-free allowance to purchase their own personal health insurance policy. Which can be done typically from the same insurance carrier that provides their group coverage.



Personal health policies, sometimes called individual or family policies, are available in all states at far less cost than group coverage. The number of U.S. families with personal policies rose from 12 million in 2002 to 20 million in 2007, and is expected to reach 28 million by 2010. It is also anticipated that under terms of the Health Care Reform Bill employers will have a choice to offer individual plans or traditional group plans including a government sponsored plan/co-op.



In North Carolina and 44 other states, insurance carriers are allowed to price and accept or reject applicants based on their medical history. In North Carolina, the average price for a personal policy is only 1/3 to 1/2 the price of a comparable-benefit employer group policy. But there is a catch—only 83% of applicants medically qualify.



What about employees who don’t qualify medically?



Employees who don’t medically qualify can take advantage of a new federal law requiring all states to offer a state-guaranteed personal policy to employees with preexisting medical conditions whose group coverage is cancelled. These state-guaranteed personal policies offer the same benefits as a regular personal policy from the same Blue Cross Blue Shield carriers at a higher price.



The big change for employers are new federal regulations that allow employer-sponsored HRAs (Health Reimbursement Arrangements) to pay, tax-free, for the premiums on personal policies, just as employers have always done with employer-sponsored group policies. Additionally, employers are allowed to give higher HRA allowances to employees with preexisting medical conditions, and all employees are allowed to subsidize their employer contributions.



Tom Hamilton, President of Carolina Benefit Designs, Inc., is a North Carolina-based authorized distributor of ZaneHRA, the leading administration platform that allows employers to offer personal policies to their employees. Tom is also a health care education advocate and reformer. Tom’s organization helps employers simply give each employee a fixed monthly tax-free allowance and the employee purchases their own personal policy, either online or through Carolina Benefit Designs, Inc.



“With a group policy,” says Tom, “you lose your health insurance when you lose your job—this happens every year to one million American families who end up filing bankruptcy for medical reasons. With a personal policy, your premium cannot generally be increased regardless of how many claims you file, and your policy is renewable until age 65 when Medicare takes over.”



What group health insurance brokers may not be telling everyone



Tom says that more than 10 million employees are now covered by HRAs despite the reluctance of many health insurance agents to recommend them.



Brokers often discourage HRAs, says Tom, because it eliminates the group health insurance broker entirely. "Few group brokers are willing to do what we love to do—meet with each individual employee to help them choose the best personal policy for their family.”



“The best part about this solution is that you can implement right away, without waiting for your annual renewal,” says Tom. “Most group insurance carriers will allow you to increase your deductible and halve your premium anytime during your plan year, and if they don’t, you can switch carriers at any time. Employers often don’t know that they always cancel any group health insurance policy at any time without penalty on less than 30 days notice.”



Visit Sales.ZaneHRA.com/e2BeneFLEX for more information on switching from group to personal policies. A free report is featured on the site.



And visit www.carolinabenefitdesigns.com to learn more about this new revolution in health care insurance.