During his recent visit to the Genesis Alkali facility, Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., mentioned the association health plan idea he worked on with Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta.
However, a federal judge has ruled against the plan and in the words of the Washington Post, placed some companies in limbo. This is an unfortunate event because we think the idea is promising for a sparsely-populated state like Wyoming.
The association health care idea allows similar businesses to pool together for health insurance coverage and retirement plans.
While rules regarding association health plans went into effect about six months ago and had been adopted by businesses in Nevada and by the Land O Lakes corporation, the judge ruled the plans were “clearly an end-run” around customer protection provisions in the Affordable Care Act.
While we can’t argue that the ACA has had a positive impact in larger, more populous states, Wyoming hasn’t benefited as much. The insurance market place is operated by only one provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, and affordable options without the tax credit or employer contributions simply don’t exist.
Enzi said the plans have the potential to cross state lines, something that would benefit Wyoming residents greatly as the single insurance provider in Wyoming enjoys a monopoly within the state. Competition, even if it came from Colorado or Utah, would force the Wyoming’s monopoly to be more competitive with the rates it offers. Competition benefits all customers in the health insurance market. There are thousands of Wyoming residents working in the restaurant industry, at grocery and big box stores, and a variety of other vocations that do not offer health insurance for their workers. In some cases, the businesses are too small to afford that kind of offering to employees. Others, like Walmart, simply do not want to provide it, despite earnings that could easily support that kind of initiative.
Regardless, people should have a right to some form of health insurance and the association health plan is a great idea for sparely populated states like Wyoming. The ACA may be a great tool in states like New York and California to provide insurance to their residents, but the act doesn’t help as much as it should here. Unless Congress decides to provide some form of basic healthcare to all U.S. residents, the association health plan is likely the best Wyoming residents will see.
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