Health Insurance Commissioner Christopher F. Koller said this week that employers with fewer than 50 workers are paying, on average, 10 percent for coverage than large companies.
The apparent reason, he said, is lack of bargaining power. That rings true to us.
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This wasn’t always the case. Until the health insurance reforms of 2000, Rhode Island businesses routinely banded together to increase their bargaining power. In fact, a 1999 employer survey found 31 percent of employers were in a purchasing cooperative, including 46 percent of those with fewer than 10 workers.
The reforms changed that. To even the playing field for all small groups, the General Assembly mandated that they all be “community” rated – meaning their rates were set based on their collective claims experience. The idea was to help companies with older and/or sicker workers, which were paying exorbitant rates, by spreading the cost among all small employers.
We’re not sure how well the reforms worked.
But even if they were effective, we’re not sure why, as part of the process, employers’ right to collective purchasing was eliminated.
Koller and many health industry leaders keep encouraging businesses to get more involved in solving the insurance crisis.
Put that on the priority list for the General Assembly.
Leadership R.I. a great asset for state
The concept is so simple and effective: Take promising leaders from across Rhode Island – in business, government, nonprofits, arts, education – and bring them together to learn about crucial issues, develop their leadership skills, and form new bonds.
For 25 years, Leadership Rhode Island has used that model to help groom some of the state’s best and brightest into even better, more skillful leaders.
Each Leadership class brings together 50 or so men and women from totally different worlds, who get to learn from one another.
What does it do for a banker to spend 10 full days over 10 months with artists, small-business owners and social activists? And can you imagine how a little nonprofit’s horizons can expand after its director has made friends at major corporations, and understood their perspectives?
We often hear that Rhode Island is special because you can get all the decision-makers at the same table. It’s part of our culture, but we suspect Leadership Rhode Island has strengthened that. As they celebrate their 25th anniversary, we offer our thanks and congratulations.
Keep up the good work!
