New Sams Club Affordable Health Insurance Program: Shifting the Burden to Employees?

Press Release

Dallas, Texas USA (PRWEB) January 5, 2006 -- New Sam's Club Affordable Health Insurance Program: Extending the Health Care Burden to Employees?

As the U.S. shifts to a part-time work force without health insurance, those with health insurance will pay more. Retailers and restaurant chains are the most visible, but certainly not the only companies driving this trend. According to the US Census Bureau, the share of Americans covered by health insurance at work decreased to 59.8 percent in 2004, from 60.4 percent in 2003. Growth in Medicare and work force trends promise to drive down the portion of the work force with employer-paid health insurance to below 50% before the end of this decade.

Skyrocketing health insurance costs affect small business, entrepreneurs and the self employed the most. So it should be no surprise that Sam's Club, one of the nation's leading suppliers to small businesses, announced on New Year's Eve a new program called ExtendChoice(TM) (www.ExtendChoice.com) that quotes individual health insurance plans to small businesses instead of group health plans because, they say, it is a "Fact: Individual policies cost ¼ to ½ the price of a typical group policy for similar coverage."

"Individual policies are NOT the same," says Mike Chapman of www.BenefitsBoutique.com, a nationwide insurance firm specializing in affordable health insurance for individuals, the self employed and small businesses. "Individual plans don't cover maternity in most states, so who pays for all of the babies born to employees without the maternity benefits? And what happens to "the 1/5 of individual policy applicants " that Sam's ExtendChoice(TM) website admits "can't get individual insurance because they (or someone in their family) already have an expensive preexisting medical condition?"

"Can you say tax payer?" asks Chapman. "Can you say employee?" BenefitsBoutique.com offers both individual and group medical insurance plans, but doesn't promote individual health insurance plans to businesses for ethical reasons. He admits, though, that the price savings from individual plans is compelling. "Small business owners rarely know the health or family planning issues facing their employees' families. Small businesses that replace a group medical insurance plan with individual health insurance policies may save a buck but could jeopardize the health of their employees' families and their financial well being."

What are small businesses and the self employed to do about rising health insurance costs? Chapman cites the Bush Administration's call for passage of Association Health Plans (www.AssociationHealthPlans.com) that allow small businesses to combine their insurance purchasing for better rates, and creation of tax incentives for individuals and businesses with health insurance as a better solution.

But Congress has been slow to react. "Maybe this exploitation of the inequities between individual and group health insurance by a major retailer will finally cause legislators to act," says Chapman.