(The Center Square) – A new health insurance program for small businesses in North Carolina was unveiled Tuesday with the promise of lower group rates than are offered by individual policies.
The program, called Carolina Healthworks, is described as a “multiple employer welfare arrangement” offered by Blue Cross North Carolina and the North Carolina Chamber.
It was authorized by the Legislature and implemented with help from chamber for health insurance for small businesses by pooling resources statewide.
With rates on the federally sponsored Affordable Care Act policies increasing lately, Carolina Healthworks may be able to offer lower rates for businesses, third-term Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey said at a news conference Tuesday. Businesses must be members of the North Carolina Chamber to participate in the plan.
“It’s going to make a big difference for small businesses, their employees and their families, and every community across North Carolina,” chamber president Gary Salamido said.
Small businesses have faced tough challenges with health insurance including higher costs, fewer choices and less control, Salamido said.
“Carolina Healthworks will change that,” he said. “It will allow small businesses to band together, pooling their resources, and to access some of the same kinds of benefits and rate advantages large companies enjoy.”
The insurance is available to businesses with two to 50 employees who are members of the North Carolina Chamber or other chamber participating in the program.
Combining small businesses into a single insurance program allows them to benefit from a larger risk pool and lower rates, Causey said.
“They are getting the rates like a big company,” the insurance commissioner said. “The rates that a company with hundreds of thousands of employees would get – these small employers are able to get that same benefit.”
