The Michigan Business and Professional Association (MBPA) through its health care reform website, Health Care Reform Connect, have been fielding thousands of Affordable Care Act/Marketplace questions. We have learned that some of these questions are frequent and have been posting them on our health care reform website, which is solely dedicated to getting you the […]
How We Make Your Business Better – Your Membership Includes All This!
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MBPA could help save your clients thousands of dollars in health care premiums and avoid possible penalties.
With Michigan’s expanded Medicaid program, your clients could have employees that would be eligible to enroll in the Healthy Michigan Plan, opting out of group coverage and saving the employer thousands of dollars annually in health care premiums. Informing employers and eligible employees of this option could make you their most valuable advisor.
If your client is an “applicable large employer” who currently does not offer coverage to substantially all of its full-time employees, this would be a proactive way to assist their employees in obtaining health care coverage before the ACA employer shared responsibility penalties take effect. (Applicable large employers with 50-99 full-time equivalent employees (FTE) will be subject to the employer shared responsibility penalties beginning in 2016. Those with 100 or more FTEs will need to start offering health benefits to at least 70% of their FTEs by 2015 and 95% by 2016 in order to avoid potential penalties.)
If just 5 employees qualify and choose to enroll in the Healthy Michigan Plan vs. taking employer group coverage, the employer could potentially save a minimum of $21,000.00 a year!
Although an employer cannot force or coerce employees to enroll in the Healthy Michigan Plan, by simply educating the employees on the Healthy Michigan Plan including potential cost savings to them and possibly better health coverage and lower deductibles than their current group plan, why wouldn’t an employee choose it?
Who Could Qualify for the Healthy Michigan Plan?
Individuals who…
• Are age 19-64 years
• Have income at or below 133% of the federal poverty level* ($16,000 for a single person or $33,000 for a family of four)
• Do not qualify for or are not enrolled in Medicare
• Do not qualify for or are not enrolled in other Medicaid programs
• Are not pregnant at the time of application
• Are residents of the State of Michigan
* Eligibility for the Healthy Michigan Plan is determined through the Modified Adjusted Gross Income methodology.
How can MBPA help?
MBPA’s On-Site Enrollment Team will meet individually with employees that may qualify and further evaluate eligibility requirements for the Healthy Michigan Plan. If the employee is found to be eligible and wishes to enroll in the Healthy Michigan Plan, our team will then process their application and provide employee with any on-going enrollment assistance that may be needed.
For more information on this service, please contact: Jennifer Werner at 888-277-6464 ext 166 or Tina Brodak ext 119
