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Please read an update on medical trends in Healthcare and the League's Association Health Plan below from RJ Schauer & Associates, LTD.
As we continue to work through the feasibility of establishing an Association Health Plan for the League, we wanted to provide some information about current trends that we have seen through these first couple of months but continue to play out as we have seen figures going through May.
We continue to see increases across all coverage lines albeit individual, group, and senior medical insurance. At present, industry trends are reporting increases of 16%-17%. In addition, we are seeing modifications of health insurance plans impacting both individual and group that reflect increases in deductibles and out of pocket costs. This is especially true in the 2-50 group market.
The pressure continues to as it relates to sustainability of both providing quality health care programs and delivering them at an affordable price. These increases are having a ripple effect on individuals and entities that are forcing them to take unprecedented steps to maintain coverage to the point where many are moving to a catastrophic plan coverage with high deductible and in some cases eliminating plans altogether. This is creating more hardship that will only continue to plague us for the foreseeable future.
The endeavor to institute an Association Health Plan is ideal because it boils down to strength in numbers. Those who stand to benefit the most are those currently in the 2-50 market space followed by those in the 50-150 and ultimately large group space.
While we continue to evaluate the responses of those who have expressed interest in an Association Health Plan, it is important to note that your participation does not bind anyone to participating in the Plan but rather allows us to better understand the issues that need to be considered as the plan is being constructed. To that end, we would like everyone to participate.
We recognize that the main issue is cost and while we can communicate that the savings are significant many wish to know actual figures. In order to provide this specificity is a function of everyone’s participation in this survey (which will be released at a later date).
Those of you who have responded but the concerns extend beyond price to an issue of service, support, and guidance. To that end, there are solutions but the question is to what extent they have been communicated. We can serve a resource to help guide you and are available should you have interest.
For more information, please feel free to contact Scott M. Schauer at (630) 515-9080 or scott@rjschauer.com.
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