State offers insurance comparison guide

HONOLULU – The Hawaii Insurance Division announced today the release of a new comparison guide for all available Affordable Care Act small group plans. The guide is available at: cca.hawaii.gov/ins/.

The information is made available through Act 066, which was proposed by the Insurance Division, passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Neil Abercrombie this past session. This law creates openness and rate transparency, and promotes increased competition by requiring Hawaii’s health insurers to allow its small group ACA rates to be published in a rate comparison sheet.

“Small businesses will be able to review the premiums they’re currently paying for their employees and compare them to ACA small group plans from other insurers,” said Insurance Commissioner Gordon Ito. “Our goal is to make the process easier for business owners and managers, and provide them with resources to help them make informed decisions that affect their bottom line.”

Hawaii’s small businesses will be able to compare side-by-side rates that have been approved by the Insurance Division from HMSA, Kaiser, UHA, HMAA and Family Health. The Insurance Division continues to increase its efforts to educate consumers and businesses about what can be done to address rising healthcare costs. The ACA small group premium comparison sheet is another tool that will help the small businesses understand health premium options when making decisions to purchase health insurance for their employees.

The Insurance Division reminds small businesses with 25 employees or less, with an average salary of $50,000 or less, that they may be eligible for a small business tax credit of up to 50 percent of the cost of healthcare premiums, if an ACA small business plan is purchased through the Hawaii Health Connector. This could potentially save eligible small businesses thousands of dollars.

On the web: https://cca.hawaii.gov/ins/health-insurance-premium-comparison/