Proposal would make it harder for you to self-fund your healthcare.
A new bill introduced in the Maryland General Assembly may make
it even harder for small business owners to purchase healthcare.
SB 703, introduced by Senator Middleton, would increase the
minimum attachment points for medical stop-loss insurance. The legislation would eliminate self-funding insurance options for small employers who currently get stop-loss coverage that kicks in should claims exceed a certain $10,000. This legislation drastically increases this “attachment point” to $40,000.
Raising the attachment point four times the current amount removes a small employers’ ability to afford to self-fund.” NFIB says this legislation discriminates against small employers because it specifically aims to limit small employer health insurance options, & force small businesses to use expensive, fully insured plans.
“This is a very dangerous bill because it will remove
funding options for employers,” NFIB/Maryland State Director Jessica
Cooper told the Baltimore
Business Journal. “There have been so many promises of
helping small employers and this is not helping.”
Medical stop-loss insurance is typically purchased by anywhere
from 8 to 16 percent of small business owners, and protects employees against
“catastrophic, excess, or unexpected losses incurred by that person…under…a
health benefit plan,” according to current Maryland law. The law would affect
businesses with an average of up to 100 employees.
