Chambers Find Drawing Card In New Health Insurance Co-Op
PHOTO/JACQUELYN GUTC
Suzanne Spero, owner of Advantage: Small Business in Acton, explains the Chamber Health Co-op to members of the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Members of the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce took part in an information session on a recent morning to better understand how the new Chamber Health Co-op would benefit their businesses and employees.
"Wellness is a serious component of this program, as it should be," insurance broker Suzanne Spero said. She informed attendees that at least 60 percent of employees who opt into newly discounted health insurance would have to participate in a wellness program, too.
She said that for every employee under the 60-percent threshold, the employer would have to pay a $100 fee.
Discounted health insurance is something Massachusetts chambers are excited to offer after several years of a hiatus, and Linda Vissat of the Marlborough chamber's member services, said she hopes similar events will help spur interest among business owners.
"I think people need to know about it and learn about it more," she said, adding that her chamber will host other information sessions to help members get a better understanding of how the plans would work; she said members are slowly starting to call about it.
Fallon, Harvard Discounts
Effective Aug. 1, Fallon Community Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care will offer a 3-percent discount to members of the co-op through the Massachusetts Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (MACCE) who have up to 50 employees.
"For a long time, chambers had been fighting to bring this back for small businesses, and finally we were successful," said Bonnie Biocchi, president of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce in Framingham.
In recent years, many chambers offered health insurance, but couldn't give the discount.
"So now, we have sort of banded together to create this pool of users and we all pay into this system," said Biocchi, whose chamber has about 630 members.
Tom O'Rourke, executive director of Chamber Health Co-op and president of MACCE, said the co-op is one of two the state has approved to tender insurance discounts (The other is the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.).
He said the state — under a law passed in 2010 — will allow up to six co-ops offering discounts and each has to reapply with the state annually. Each chamber that wants to be part of the co-op must also reapply each year.
The co-op is limited to cover workers at about 10 percent of small businesses in the state — or roughly 85,000 individuals — before it's considered full.
"If we're extremely successful, the co-op could max out at a certain point," O'Rourke said. "Our feeling is if it's that successful and popular, we would be able to convince the Legislature to increase the cap for more people to get it."
O'Rourke and officials of member chambers are also hoping a high participation rate will help leverage bargaining power for deeper discounts in the future.
Even with only a 3-percent discount, insurance premiums can be cut by hundreds or thousands of dollars for businesses, depending on the number of employees they have, but chambers are still feeling out their members' interest.
Richard Kennedy, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, said there's a lot of enthusiasm, but it's too soon to know the overall result.
"It's also more likely to catch on as we approach certain dates with regard to the annual renewals," which usually happen in April, he said, even though businesses can get the discounts now.
"There's sort of a wrinkle in this, because if you're in a deductible plan and are partially through it, you have to start again with your new deductible. That's one of the issues that causes people to think about whether they would, in fact, sign up for the plan," he said.
Spreading The Word
Regardless, his group is getting the word out to whoever it can.
Vissat is calling Marlborough chamber members and making sure they're aware of the discounts, but she thinks it can also add to the chamber's 700-member base.
Meanwhile, Melissa Fetterhoff, executive director and CEO of the Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce in Devens, said it's been somewhat difficult to know how many members will accept discounted plans because rates only became available the last week in June, and members have to go through the process of seeing a broker or inputting their information online before they can get a rate.
"Definitely, people want a discount," she said, and she believes the savings will be more of a retention tool than a draw for new members. "I think that at this point, any savings is a good thing and the savings could be significant." n
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