Company Revisits Offering Coverage

HEATHER STAUFFER

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A Columbia company that famously dropped employee health coverage two years ago in response to President Barack Obama's health care law might reverse that decision.

Walter Rowen, owner of Susquehanna Glass, is now considering resuming a company health insurance plan for 2017.

In 2014, he said, the choice to let workers buy their own health insurance - which got Susquehanna a story in Forbes - was easy.

Before the Affordable Care Act, unsustainable premiums kept rising year after year, and there weren't many good alternatives to job-based coverage.

But the health care law changed that, Rowen said. Dropping the company health plan made some workers eligible for subsidies on the federal online marketplace (healthcare.gov) and let others join their spouse's coverage.

Initially, Rowen said, employees were pleased with the marketplace plans, with most paying less than they had through the company.

But this year, Rowen is hearing employees complaining about higher premiums and deductibles on the marketplace, along with fewer choices.

"I know for a fact that a number of people who did sign up ended up not continuing to pay for the policy through the year," he said.

He worries that leaves them both unprotected and subject to the federal penalty for not being insured, which starts at $695 per adult this year.

Also, Rowen is now facing a significant penalty for not offering health coverage.

The health care law's employer mandate started last year for companies with at least 100 full-time workers and this year for companies with at least 50; it doesn't apply to smaller companies.

Rowen has about 75 employees. The total amount he'll owe is not yet clear, but it may be upward of $50,000.

So between that and the steep rate hikes that marketplace insurers are requesting for 2017, Rowen's checking prices for a company plan again.

It may be a while before he makes his decision, as the final marketplace rates won't be revealed until mid-October. It will, he said, probably be a complicated decision.

Uncommon move

Although there was initially speculation that the health care law would cause many companies to drop their plans, local insurance brokers said few have.

"I could count on one hand the number of clients that have stopped offering benefits," said R. Scott Labrecque, a vice president at insurance consultant StoudtAdvisors in Manheim Township. All were too small to be affected by the employer mandate.

Scott Radcliffe, an executive vice president at insurance broker EHD in East Lampeter Township, said brokers across the nation had similar experiences.

"We have had a couple of groups who had dropped coverage actually come back," he said.

Rowen, who speaks with experience of the many changes the health care law has brought, said he sees a need to adjust parts of the law.

For instance, he'd like to strengthen the individual mandate, give insurers the financial support they were promised for marketplace plans, and allow businesses that don't offer health benefits to contribute to health savings accounts for their workers.

"Let's get to work and tweak them," he said.