Virtually daily, I hear from Connecticut small companies, non-profits, and households involved concerning the rising price of well being care. The very fact is that the majority small companies need to have the ability to present this essential profit to their workers — employers acknowledge that providing high quality, reasonably priced healthcare is without doubt one of the greatest methods to draw and retain staff. Not solely that, however small companies usually view their workers as household, they usually consider offering this profit is solely the precise factor to do.

Sadly, Connecticut’s small-group medical health insurance market is in disaster. Solely 4 insurers are nonetheless serving the small-group absolutely insured market, and the price of insurance policies has risen dramatically. Because the co-chair of the Normal Meeting’s Insurance coverage & Actual Property Committee, my No. 1 precedence is rising the provision of high-quality, complete, and reasonably priced healthcare plans for small employers, non-profits and their staff.

That is why I’m proud to be working with a various group of colleagues on bipartisan laws, Home Invoice 6710, to authorize what is usually often called an “affiliation well being plan” in Connecticut. The idea is straightforward — enable commerce associations to supply healthcare advantages for his or her member organizations. Pooled collectively, small employers would have the ability to buy insurance coverage in a lot the identical approach that giant employers do, utilizing the facility of numbers to attain financial savings that wouldn’t in any other case be attainable.

The proposal is backed by a variety of small companies and commerce associations — employers starting from retailers to accountants, physicians, charities, non-profits, and even craft beer brewers have expressed robust help for this selection.

Sadly, our proposal has come beneath ideological assault by some who oppose any new non-public insurance coverage choice. Opponents have resorted to scare ways and fear-mongering, mischaracterizing affiliation well being plans as a return to the pre-Inexpensive Care Act days of slim advantages and little shopper protections. However nothing could possibly be farther from the reality. The truth is our laws is designed in such a approach as to protect all of the core necessities of the Inexpensive Care Act and to explicitly prohibit abusive practices like discriminating towards people based mostly on preexisting situations.

I want to handle a few of the myths about this proposal straight:

Fable:  Affiliation well being plans would exclude people with preexisting situations.

Truth:  Like different group well being plans, federal legislation (HIPAA) prohibits affiliation well being plans from denying eligibility or continued eligibility to enroll for any particular person based mostly on well being elements.

Fable:  Affiliation well being plans are unregulated.

Truth:  Affiliation well being plans can be topic to a number of layers of strong state and federal oversight. These plans can be regulated by the Connecticut Insurance coverage Division, and topic to federal legal guidelines such because the Worker Retirement Revenue Safety Act of 1975 (ERISA), the Inexpensive Care Act, the Well being Insurance coverage Portability and Accountability act of 1996 (HIPAA), the Civil Rights Act, the Ladies’s Well being and Most cancers Rights Act, the Public Well being Service Act, the Psychological Well being Parity and Habit Fairness Act of 2008, the Genetic Info Nondiscrimination Act, and the Consolidated Omnibus Funds Reconciliation Act of 1085 (COBRA).

Fable:  Affiliation well being plans wouldn’t be required to supply the identical advantages as plans regulated beneath the Inexpensive Care Act.

Truth:  Affiliation well being plans are required, beneath federal legislation, to supply all the identical important well being advantages because the Inexpensive Care Act, together with however not restricted to being pregnant, childbirth, and associated maternity and new child medical situations.

Fable:  Affiliation well being plans wouldn’t be required to cowl different medical situations mandated beneath state legislation.

Truth:  These plans will probably be topic to all the well being protection mandates particular to Connecticut, together with protection of mammograms/ultrasounds and breast reconstruction, fertility therapies, colorectal most cancers screenings, craniofacial issues, and lots of extra.

Fable:  People and households will get kicked off their plans after they get sick.

Truth:  Like different well being plans, affiliation well being plans should allow people to enroll no matter well being standing, age, gender, or different elements that may predict the usage of well being providers.

Fable:  People and households who get sick will probably be priced out of renewing insurance policies.

Truth:  No medical underwriting or pricing will happen on the particular person degree. All charges will probably be set on the enterprise and group ranges.

Fable:  Affiliation well being plans would enable insurers to understand windfall earnings.

Truth:  Simply the other. All the level of an affiliation well being plan is to provide small companies better negotiating energy with insurers to barter decrease premiums and to incentivize smarter, value-based well being plan designs that decrease healthcare prices.

Fable:  Affiliation well being plans are harmful and can rapidly grow to be bancrupt.

Truth:  Absolutely insured well being plans will probably be topic to the identical rigorous regulatory and reserve necessities as some other well being plan. Self-funded plans can have strong capital necessities, and they’re going to even be required to buy stop-loss insurance coverage.

Connecticut’s small employers need assistance. Doing nothing will not be an choice. I look ahead to persevering with to achieve throughout the aisle to cross laws with frequent sense options for our issues – what Gov. Ned Lamont calls “the Connecticut distinction.”  Home Invoice 6710, An Act Regarding Affiliation Well being Plans, will decrease prices and supply higher advantages for the staff of small enterprise and non-profits throughout Connecticut. I encourage my colleagues to help its passage.

Democratic state Rep. Kerry Wooden serves Rocky Hill and Wethersfield.