Massachusetts Health Insurers Question Minimum Requirements Under State’s Health Care Law

Some insurers say they will not sell coverage to companies providing the minimum level of health insurance to comply with the state's new health insurance law, because the minimum threshold set for Massachusetts employers to avoid an assessment is too low, the Boston Globe reports. The law exempts employers from an annual $295 per worker assessment if one-quarter of the company's workers participate in a health plan or if it contributes 33% of an employee's individual premium. Insurers say higher participation rates and larger employer contributions are necessary for them to predict medical costs and set rates, the Globe reports. Chris Murphy, a spokesperson for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, said the company "expects employer contributions to premiums to be 50%," adding, "That level of employer contribution creates the largest, most stable pool of employees to share risk." Charles Baker, CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, said his company will require that "significantly" more than 50% of a firm's employees participate in a health plan before selling insurance to that company. In 2005, the median employer contribution to employee health care was 77% for individual policies and 75% for family plans, a state study says, according to the Globe. Amy Lischko, commissioner of the Division of Health Care Finance and Administration, said the assessment will encourage companies that do not offer employee health benefits to make a minimal contribution toward no-cost care for the uninsured (Krasner, Boston Globe, 11/11).