An effort by large employers to offer health benefits to workers who otherwise would not qualify is finally and officially off the ground more than a year after it was first announced.
Called National Health Access, the program offers certain workers from nearly 20 large employers, including Sears Holdings Corp., General Electric Co. and Federal Mogul Corp., access to certain medical benefits. The program allows temporary, seasonal and part-time workers, and independent contractors to participating employers, to access a range of benefits, said the HR Policy Association, a Washington-based lobbying group comprising human-resource executives that brought the employers together for the program.
Increasingly, these workers make up a larger chunk of the nation’s 45 million uninsured. Participating companies in the plan, first announced in May 2004, said they could eventually offer coverage to 4 million uninsured workers and their dependents.
While the participating employers say they still hope to reach their original goal, they are initially targeting 1.25 million workers and their dependents.
“There are initial employers coming on board at different times,” said Xina Eiland, spokeswoman for the HR Policy Association. “This is the first wave.”
The employers pooled together so they could entice health insurance companies into bidding on business from the uninsured workers.
Three plans–Cigna Corp., Humana Inc. and UnitedHealth Group–agreed to offer a range of benefits and discounts on medical-care services and prescription drugs.
Monthly premiums are as low as about $7 for pre-negotiated discounts on certain medical-care services to $150 for coverage of doctors office visits and “some coverage of hospital stays and inpatient mental health up to plan maximums,” the HR Policy Association said.
“They will have access to a range of options, starting from a simple discount card that would give them discounts with providers for services all the way up to coverage that looks just like major medical coverage,” said Lynn Zehnder, director of corporate benefits at Hoffman Estates-based Sears Holdings.
Unlike employer-paid premiums for full-time employees, companies participating in National Health Access are not contributing to workers’ health-care expenses.
“This is a platform by which we can offer them access to a range of options,” Zehnder said. “A lot of employers do not extend access.”
Neither the policy association nor participating employers would disclose specific plan details, saying they are sending out comprehensive brochures and educational materials to their respective “eligible populations on how to enroll.”
The amount of coverage part-time workers can obtain will be based, in part, on how many hours they work for a participating company. “Individuals who work more would be eligible for richer benefits,” Zehnder said.
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