by Sandy » Mon Oct 07, 2013 4:21 pm
Our insurance provider suggested we do the "early renewal" by October 31 "to avoid what could be as much as a 14% increase in rates." The early renewal locks in the rates where they are on October 31, which means that we would receive about a 5% decrease in premiums and a 3% savings on our HRA. Our agent has found a couple of plans that have similar coverages to what we now have, one through United Healthcare, at a similar rate, about 5% less than we are now paying. We had thought we might have to make an adjustment in the premiums that our employees have to pay for family members on their plan. Right now, we deduct 20% of the premium, and we pay 80%. We will see our costs drop with coverage of spouses, since under the new rules, 6 or 7 of our employees will have spouses whose coverage will move to their employer, so we will be covering fewer people. We're happy with the 5% decrease, so we will renew early instead of looking on the exchanges.