BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois offers small business health insurance mandate
BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois has a law that small businesses with two to 50 employees would be providing health insurance to employees, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that offer proposed. The proposal would all private health insurers in the state participate in the program. The employer would not be necessary to subsidize premium payments, but they would earn state tax credits if they did it. In addition, companies would be able to tailor health plans to meet their needs, the Sun-Times reports that offer.Basel Committee estimates that about 500,000 people added interest in participating in the program, about 1.1 million of the 1.7 million uninsured residents are employed by the State or a family member is employed. BCBS President Paul Boulis, said the legislation is designed
to operate gradually, adding that it is important that public and private sectors to provide health insurance for employees in Illinois. Basel Committee seeking sponsors for the program in Springfield and will seek additional input on the proposal for small organizations and small businesses, according to Boulis.Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce said, I like the fact that the insurance industry tries to offer solutions that make it easier for companies, property insurance. Whitley said he supports tax credits for small businesses, but noted that small businesses typically have insurance mandates (Knowles, Chicago Sun-Times, 10/19).Reprinted with permission from Kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Health Policy Report daily, searchthe archives, or sign up for email delivery at Kaisernetwork / DailyReports / healthpolicy. Kaiser Health Policy Report is published for Kaisernetwork Journal, a free service of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.