Small Business Health Insurance Exchanges Move Ahead
March 2011
Small business health insurance in Oregon will likely benefit greatly from Senate Bill 99, which is moving ahead in legislation. The bill is designed to create health insurance exchanges by the year 2014 that will offer small business owners more affordable coverage for their employees.
Senate Bill 99 is an extension of the health care bill passed last year, and requires that
Oregon health insurance be offered to individuals and small business owners at lower prices.
In 2014 business owners with 50 or fewer employees will be able to purchase coverage on the exchanges. If it proves successful, small business health insurance will then become available in the exchanges for businesses with 100 or fewer employees.
Like all insurance, Oregon health insurance premiums have gone up dramatically in the last 10 years. As a result many small business owners have been forced to limit the coverage they offer their employees, if they can offer coverage at all.
Smaller businesses lack the bargaining power enjoyed by large corporations, who have numbers on their side. In larger groups there are more healthy people to balance the costs associated with treating unhealthy people. Thus, working with larger corporations is financially smart for insurance companies.
Facts on:
Oregon Health Insurance
Did you know...
Small business health insurance is too expensive for most small business owners to offer at all.
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But smaller companies get left out in the cold - they can't negotiate for good prices on Oregon health insurance. Instead they end up with high cost insurance that doesn't always include good coverage.
While some small businesses have protested the
health care bill, others have supported its goal of making small business health insurance more available and affordable.
If the bill is still functional by 2014 consumers and business owners will be able to judge for themselves whether or not their coverage is improved, and their pocketbooks any heavier.
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