Healthcare Reform: Plan Comparisons for Small Businesses

As the reality of health care reform begins to take shape, small businesses remain pressed by the high cost of health care for their employees, and comparison shopping becomes ever more important.  One of the obstacles in shopping for the best and most affordable coverage has always been the difficulty of comparing plan benefits and pricing; for most, comparing health plans is akin to comparing apples to oranges.

In an earlier posting, I noted that the creation of health care insurance exchanges is expected to enhance comparison shopping for health plans.  I now have a glimpse into this process with the posting of a new government website -- Healthcare.gov.  This site directs users to available health care plans through a series of simple questions. 

For example, by choosing the state of residence, then selecting “Small Employer,” the user is brought to a page listing available small business health care plans in that state.  While the template includes a column for price estimates for each plan, that information will not be available until September 2010.  At this point, plan details are in varying states of completion, but the goal is to facilitate a side-by-side listing of benefits and costs, so that health care insurance consumers can more easily select the best option for their needs.

Healthcare.gov also provides health care insurance information for consumers.  For example, when the user selects options for small business, an important provision of healthcare reform is highlighted:

“If you are a small employer with 2-50 employees, health insurance companies cannot turn your business down based on the health status of your employees or their family members.  Health insurance companies must sell you any small employer health plan they sell to other small employers in your state.  An insurer must also accept everyone in your group.  Employees or family members (if you offer dependent coverage) with health conditions cannot be excluded from coverage.”

As healthcare reform begins to emerge, I'm encouraged to see that small businesses are being aided in comparing and selecting healthcare coverage that suits their needs; in the past, this clearly has been a problem.  But with that said, the increasing cost of coverage continues to be the chief concern, and this is an issue that must be addressed.  Accordingly, we will continue to closely monitor regulations being written to implement healthcare reform for implications for both SMBs and cost containment.