MIAMI, FL – 1 Mar, 2016 – LevelFunded Health, an innovative health insurance agency offering small business-focused benefit alternatives to the ACA, explains details how Blue Cross Blue Shield, which has over 75 percent of the existing market share in the small business health insurance sector nationwide, is failing to offer small businesses alternative options to health insurance plans with sky-high premiums.
Fifty percent of all small businesses are likely dramatically over-paying for health benefits and have no idea they are doing so, thanks to the ACA and companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield, whom often have their own best interest in mind with their narrow suite of product offerings.
Given the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) requirements of the health insurers due to the ACA, there is zero incentive for the carrier to reduce a businesses’ claim costs in a traditional small-business health insurance plan. If carriers reduce claim costs for their entire book of business, then they will likely have to lower premiums the following year to stay compliant with the MLR rules.
This means that the carrier’s 15 percent of premium that they are allowed to retain will represent less revenue and ultimately less profit, which is certainly not what the carrier, nor its investors, want. Generally speaking, the insurance carrier’s revenues and profits increase as the underlying cost of claims increase. This revenue stream protection by the Blues/carriers is nonsense and unfair, and business owners around the nation should not tolerate it.
“Large health care companies, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, don’t want small businesses to have access to Obamacare alternatives,” said Russ Carpel, CEO of LevelFunded Health. “Offering insurance programs with lower premiums would mean less cash to the bottom line and why would they want that?” 50 percent of small businesses would save approximately 10-40 percent per year if they were not currently buying health insurance from companies like Blue Cross – alternatively opting for a lesser known, yet more efficient benefits option, called a ‘level-funded’ benefits plan.
There are roughly one million small businesses in the U.S., with ten-to-one hundred full-time employees, of these firms, approximately 500,000 are most likely paying exorbitant amounts for their health benefits. The best option for many small businesses, particularly those that employ a fairly healthy population, is to choose a plan in which they would be protected with stop-loss insurance and see a rebate on their annual premiums for healthy employees, unlike those traditional small business health policies offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Level-funded programs can use medical underwriting, allowed under ERISA – and therefore are why the savings can be so great for many small businesses across the U.S. “Blue Cross and their network of thousands of independent agents and brokers nationwide are minting cash by pushing these traditional plans, which are now governed by the ACA,” added Carpel.
While it’s in the best interest of the small business owner to know these plans exist, it’s not in the best interest of the existing broker community, nor is it the best interest of major insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield.
About Level Funded Health
LevelFunded Health Partners, LLC is an innovative, national health insurance agency with a hyper-focus on Affordable Care Act “alternative” employee benefit programs for the small employer market segment. The programs the agency specializes in are now known in the industry as “level-funded “benefit programs and annual savings are typically 10-40%; when compared to traditional small group health plans. Benefit programs are underwritten by A-rated (or better) insurance carriers and quotes are typically provided within 10 business days.
For more information, please visit: LevelFunded.com
Also see: Merit Mile
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