|
"With the health ecosystem as complicated as it is, even the brightest of the brightest don't understand this," he says. "Over the next year, we're going to educate ourselves, we're going to shop around, we're going to speak to other business owners and ask,
'what are you guys going to do?'" Anthony Lopez, a small business specialist at online broker eHealthInsurance, says half the clients he's spoken with are renewing early. He expects more after Oct. 1, when rates for 2014 are published. But Lopez warns that insurance companies have different expiration dates for the option to renew their policies this year. While some allow small businesses to decide as late as December, others have earlier cutoff dates. But businesses that miss the deadline might still get insurance at 2013 rates if they switch to another carrier. Higher Logic, a social media and mobile software company based in Arlington, Va., faced the specter of increasing insurance costs although it doesn't have 50 workers yet. The company is growing rapidly, having hired 15 people this year. And its 45 staffers are scattered across 15 states, which makes buying health insurance complicated because states have different rules. President Andy Steggles has moved up the renewal date for the company's insurance from Feb. 1. "If we lock in now, we'll know we have a 14 percent increase. If we hold off a renewal till Feb. 1, who knows what it's going to be?" Steggles says. His broker said she can't estimate the increase in his premiums under the ACA, but she gave him a range of 20 percent to 40 percent. PURR-fect Solution's insurance policy doesn't expire until next May, but general manager Chett Boxley is renewing five months early, in December, because the premiums will stay the same. He hopes to set aside money to pay for future rate hikes for the four employees of his Salt Lake City-based company, which manufactures cat litter. Boxley faced a 20 percent to 25 percent rate increase under the ACA. "When I heard 'no increase,' I was pretty stoked to hear that. It was a no-brainer
-- we said OK."
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.