DC's health exchange requires small bussiness under 50 employees to join the exchange

[Anonymous]

If you are a small business(under 50 employees) you will be required to get your insurance from the DC exchange. The business will not have a choice even if they offer a better plan, they will have to join the exchange. After reviewing our current plan with what will be offered by the exchange, it looks like a 50-60 percent increase, less will be covered, and many employees will have to change doctors. This is really going to cause problems.

[jsteele]

You should send a detailed description of your circumstances to each member of the Council. This is one of the more controversial aspects of DC's implementation of Obamacare and, if your experience is common, it's very troubling. I am a big fan of the exchange and I'm hoping for its success. But, what you are describing is not a step forward.

[Anonymous]

That's insane. I read that this is part of temporary legislation that expires in another 200 days or so. Dc business should fight this. It is unnecessary and paints a big red target on dc government. If they want to set minimum criteria, then set them.

[takoma]

To follow up on Jeff's suggestion: [e-mail] should get to all Council members.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a link to the proposal? I have a very small business technically based in DC with 2 employees - neither of us are DC residents and we have independent insurance. I want to see if this will apply to us. This could be the final straw that will cause us to move our business out of DC, which we were already considering. The taxes, license fees, unemployment rates, etc. have been very high relative to other jurisdictions. Dealing with the DC gov has been incredibly difficult and much less is online than in MD. Having to change insurance is just not worth it for us.

[Anonymous]

No sane person would setup a business in DC. VA would be the best place to do this.

[Anonymous]

Please post a link for this. Would it apply to nonprofits too?

[jsteele]

Information about the Health Benefit Exchange can be found here:

http://hbx.dc.gov

According to the FAQs, a business with 50 or fewer employees can keep it's existing insurance if it has had that plan since 2010. There are also tax credits available to small businesses that use the exchange. Finally, there is no requirement for small business to offer insurance at all. Not offering insurance would push employees into the individual exchange because of the individual mandate.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the link. I am 11:28 and it looks like it really won't impact us as businesses under 50 aren't required to offer insurance. And neither of us are DC residents so would not be getting insurance through the DC exchange anyway.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:Information about the Health Benefit Exchange can be found here:

http://hbx.dc.gov

According to the FAQs, a business with 50 or fewer employees can keep it's existing insurance if it has had that plan since 2010. There are also tax credits available to small businesses that use the exchange. Finally, there is no requirement for small business to offer insurance at all. Not offering insurance would push employees into the individual exchange because of the individual mandate.

but it could hurt woe key businesses. Consider what happens if you decide to open a startup in DC. You and your forty-something buddies want a top notch health plan because you have wives, kids, and you are used to good corporate plans. You probably could get a corporate plan with a good rate based on opportunity for growth. Now you have to buy a plan on the exchange, even if you could get a more generous one elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Some not woe

[Anonymous]

Three House Republicans have sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius seeking her assurance that small businesses in all states will not be forced to purchase health insurance from the insurance exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act, Modern Healthcare reports.
The request comes after officials in Vermont and the District of Columbia established rules requiring their residents and small businesses to purchase health coverage only through their exchanges.
The three lawmakers are:
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-Calif.);
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chair of the panel's Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs; and
Rep. James Lankford (R-Ohio), chair of the panel's Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements.
The lawmakers also asked officials in Vermont and D.C. for information about their insurance coverage requirements and requested that responses from HHS and the local officials be submitted by July 12. One letter was sent to Department of Vermont Health Access Commissioner Mark Larson and another letter was sent to D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority Executive Director Mila Kofman (Zigmond, Modern Healthcare, 7/1).
According to the Washington Times' "Inside Politics," D.C. officials have said the District's exchange would be more viable if companies with fewer than 50 workers are required to purchase coverage through the marketplace, while Vermont officials cited the state Chamber of Commerce's argument that the state's exchange simply is "an option for business" (Howell, "Inside Politics," Washington Times, 7/1).
In their letter to Sebelius, the lawmakers wrote that the coverage requirements "violate the principle of voluntary participation in exchanges that was codified in [the ACA]. They noted that Sebelius previously "reaffirmed" the principle in her guidelines on participation in the ACA's Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP (Modern Healthcare, 7/1).
The letter requests that Sebelius should, "at a minimum," use her authority "to ensure that all exchanges comply with the provisions in [the ACA] that ensure that individuals and employers have the freedom to enter into contracts outside of a regulated government-created bureaucracy" ("Inside Politics," Washington Times, 7/1).

Is "marketplace" the same as the exchange? Just one more thing I do not need to deal with.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Is "marketplace" the same as the exchange? Just one more thing I do not need to deal with.

In this context, yes.

[Anonymous]

I love this. This is going to be a big CF down the road. It is just beginning.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I love this. This is going to be a big CF down the road. It is just beginning.

Why would you love it? Do you hate your fellow citizens?

Unless you enjoy seeing your neighbors struggling with healthcare costs, you should detest anything that prevents them from obtaining affordable healthcare.