Column: Helping small business with health insurance

I recently teamed up with the NC Chamber and Blue Cross in NC to announce a new kind of health insurance policy that will be available to small businesses and their employees.

The new plan, the first of its kind in North Carolina, is called Carolina HealthWorks. It's a multiple employer welfare arrangement, also known by the acronym MEWA.

Finding affordable insurance has been a challenge for businesses and individuals alike. That's especially true for small businesses. Many small business owners have told me about their struggles to find affordable healthcare for their employees.

As NC Chamber President Gary Salamido noted at a press conference announcing the new plan, small businesses are the lifeblood of North Carolina's economy. There are more than 1 million small businesses employing nearly half of the state's private workforce. Smaller employers face tough challenges when it comes to providing health insurance for their employees.

Dr. Tunde Sotunde, CEO of Blue Cross NC, called Carolina HealthWorks "a bold, collaborative solution to the rising cost of health care for small businesses. By partnering with organizations like the NC Chamber and the Department of Insurance, Blue Cross NC is driving innovation and working to stabilize a volatile market. This is the kind of creative action needed to make health care more affordable in North Carolina."

We're constantly working hard on ways to make insurance more affordable to consumers. This plan, which is available to members of the NC Chamber and affiliate local chambers of commerce only, is one option that can make health insurance more affordable for small business owners.

Progress like this often involves the cooperation of a lot of others. Legislators gave strong bipartisan support to the legislation needed to pave the way for this new type of health insurance plan. Gov. Josh Stein also signed the legislation into law.

Finally, I want to give a big thank you to the review team at the Department of Insurance for going above and beyond, putting in extra hours, to give this plan the regulatory approval it needed.

I look forward to working with insurance, business and government leaders to find creative ways to help make health insurance more affordable to North Carolina residents.