HealthSource RI presents ’15 plans for individuals, small biz

PROVIDENCE – HealthSource RI, the state’s health benefits exchange, announced that more health insurance plans will be offered on the exchange next year, and that rate sheets are available that will allow consumers and small employers to compare plans.
“What is really critical is that consumers understand the range of choices and the different ways they can get their care,” HealthSource RI Executive Director Christine Ferguson said at a press conference on Thursday morning.
The exchange was created through an executive order by Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee in 2011 as part of the Affordable Care Act, and HealthSource launched two years later.
This year, HealthSource is offering more plans than last. Twenty plans, eight more than last year, are being offered for the individual market, with UnitedHealthcare of New England as a new addition, joining Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island. HealthSource officials explained that the individual plans are for people who are self-employed, or who do not have access to employer health coverage.
On the SHOP side, which offers plans for small businesses with 50 employees or less, 20 plans are being offered, an increase from 16 last year.
According to information from HealthSource, as of Nov. 1, approximately 26,000 individuals were enrolled, and 347 employers were enrolled in SHOP, representing 2,419 covered workers.
Ferguson explained that the rate sheets, available online at www.healthsourceri.com, allow small employers to know what their health insurance rates will be, allowing them to budget a full year in advance. Usually, she said, employers are only given 30 to 60 days notice, which is a short period of time to budget for an unforeseen increase.
Open enrollment for individuals begins Nov. 15.
“That’s why it’s so important that all of our individual and family customers visit www.healthsourceri.com to take a look at the new plans for 2015 and choose the coverage that’s right for them,” Ferguson said. “Rhode Islanders really deserve to know what the choices are. It’s not like a 401(k) plan where you just go from year to year.”
“This is something that affects your life on a daily basis,” Ferguson said, adding that “some people may find that the plan they chose didn’t really meet their needs.”

Ferguson said HealthSource RI is a “neutral third party” that does not endorse any of the plans, but provides the information so individuals can make their own choices based on their own financial and health care needs. She said individuals also can qualify for tax credits, depending on their income.

She said all Rhode Islanders currently on an individual or family plan through HealthSource RI will have coverage end on Dec. 31, so it’s important to pick a plan choice for 2015. The first month’s premium also needs to be paid by Dec. 23.
On the individual plan side, Ferguson said the Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island value plan had the largest decrease in cost from year-to-year at nearly 14 percent, from $232 to $203, based on the monthly premium rate for a 21-year-old.
Of the 12 individual plans that were carried over, 10 from Blue Cross & Blue Shield showed increases in monthly premium costs, while the two from Neighborhood Health, Value and Neighborhood Plus, showed decreases of nearly 14 percent and 11 percent, respectively, for that age group.
Neighborhood Health value plan also showed a decrease for a 45-year-old from year-to-year, from $335 to $293.
Enrollment for small businesses depends on their renewal dates.

Individual rate sheets can be found HERE.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. The operative words here from the article are “largest decrease in cost from year-to-year at nearly 14 percent, from $232 to $203, based on the monthly premium rate for a 21-year-old.” 21 Year old?? Tell us what the rate of increase would be for a 50 year old. Our company just received our new rates from BCBS for 2015. With the new individual rating (as opposed to group rating for family and single) our rates are increasing by 19%. For those 50 and over the rates can be as high as 115% more than in 2014. We have several employees whose rates will be in the $32,000 range per year, not including the deductible. I have seen nothing written about how this will affect employment for those over 50. Is an employer going to hire a 50 year old knowing that it will cost them 2-3 times that of someone younger?