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Human Capital Management, Total Rewards

Will the new expanded Association Health Plans (AHPs) help or hurt small businesses?

Kim Fox /

associated health plans

As you would expect it is still too early in the game to know and the answer may depend based on your gender, age and occupation or you and or the small business.

A recent article from NPR titled Read The Fine Print Before Picking An Association Plan For Your Small Business does a decent job of explaining the basics of what will be different for small business as they consider an Association Health Plans. Most Insurers have not yet has a chance to formulate a plan on how they will offer coverage under the new AHP ruling. Undoubtedly, in the next several weeks insurers will provide more clarity around what the fully insured and possible even self-insured medical offerings will be for AHPs.

It will be important for small businesses to carefully analyze the offerings before deciding to join an AHP, such as:

  • What essential health benefits will be covered under the plan
  • How do the plans compare to what your business currently offers or what you employees can obtain on the ACA marketplace exchange?
  • How will rates vary by gender, age, location and type of business? It could be that some small business would have lower costs on the exchange or in a plan offering outside of an AHP?

There are many factors to consider and the bottom line is that the benefit of AHPs may vary greatly from one business to the next.

Please reach out to Exude if you would like assistance in navigating AHPs and understanding the potential benefits for your business.

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