Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce offers new health insurance options for members

By Patricia LeBoeuf, Bennington Banner

For the first time in five years, the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce will be offering health insurance plans to its members, thanks to a change in the federal Affordable Care Act.

Through the Vermont Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, members of the Bennington chamber, and their counterparts statewide, will have access to three health insurance plans. The association is partnering with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont to provide these plans to businesses ranging size from one to 100 employees. Open enrollment will run from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15, with plans taking effect on Jan. 1, 2019.

The plans offer competitive rates, which are important to small businesses, said Matt Harrington, executive director of the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce.

Offering health coverage is difficult for many small businesses, he said.

"Every single small business that I talk to ... have always said, 'we would love to offer our employees more money," he said. "Finding that money ... that's the hard part. I would say the same is true for health care."

Having more choices is valuable to employers, said Betsy Bishop, president of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce.

"Having additional choices for employers to be able to look at and purchase has been helpful to businesses in the past," she said. "We look forward to doing that again in 2019."

It was "a huge draw" for local members to have health insurance through VACCE in past years, said Heidi Bourhill, an account executive in the small business unit for the Richards Group, a health insurance broker that worked on developing the VACCE plans.

For years, members of chambers of commerce in Vermont had access to health insurance through VACCE policies, Bishop said. But the way the Affordable Care Act — better known as Obamacare — was implemented disallowed such small group healthcare offerings.

Employers will decide which of the three plans — one, two or all three — they would like to offer: the VACE Advantage 100% HSA, the VACE Advantage Copay and the VACE Advantage Copay HSA. Monthly plan premium rates for 2019 range from $507 for singles under the Advantage Copay HSA Plan to $1,666 for a family under the Advantage 100% HSA. Employers can also obtain coverage for themselves.

Employers can decide the amount they contribute toward employees' premium costs. But many small businesses in Vermont that offer insurance choose to contribute to employees' premiums, Bourhill said.

"Small employers are seeing that it's a crucial benefit to offer, and if they can afford to contribute, they need to," Bourhill said.

Besides the Richards Group, representatives of Blue Cross Blue Shield and a subcommittee formed out of members of the board of VACCE created the plans, Harrington said.

Harrington said he hopes these plans offer something "a little bit of the middle" — they're a bit cheaper than other plans, so employers can offer better coverage.

The plans are comparable with gold or silver plans on the Vermont healthcare exchange, Bourhill said.

Employers must be members of the chamber to access the health insurance plans. "They can sign up today and get insurance tomorrow," Harrington said.

About six businesses have reached out to the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce seeking information on the offerings. The chamber's role is to notify businesses that this is an option, Harrington said.

They haven't started that work yet, he said, but staff will soon create a communications plan that they'll roll out the last week of October. The chamber will also hold a Lunch and Learn informational meeting Nov. 13 at noon about the new plans. The location for that meeting hasn't been decided yet, Harrington said.

The Richards Group has also seen interest in the plans already, Bourhill said.

"The questions are definitely rolling in," she said. "The sole proprietors — I think it's going to be huge for them."

The Richards Group also plans to hold weekly webinars for chamber of commerce members on the new plans, to offer information and answer questions, she said.

The three new plans are "very similar" to those previously offered through the VACCE, said Shannon Wilson, vice president of operations for the Vermont Chamber of Commerce.

Small businesses make up most of Vermont's businesses, and they often struggle to provide health insurance to their employees, Bishop said.

"Healthcare is expensive, and people and businesses are trying to figure out how to continue to have health insurance, and afford it," she said.

Patricia LeBoeuf can be reached at pleboeuf@benningtonbanner.com, at @BAN_pleboeuf on Twitter and 802-447-7567, ext. 118.

If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.

https://ift.tt/2RpZ8DQ