“We’re trying to change the marketplace,” said Jon B. Hurst, president of the retailers association. “We’ve fought for a long time to make sure small businesses have the same opportunities as big businesses.”
The savings will come from a partnership the retailers’ co-op has struck with Steward Health Care System, a medical provider, and Fallon Community Health Plan, an insurer, that could further shake up the state’s fast-churning health care business.
The alliance lets businesses buy so-called limited network policies, channeling employees to Steward hospitals and doctors for most of their care. Employers will be able to pay even less by purchasing higher-deductible plans that pass on more costs to their workers.
With a $2,000 deductible, for example, the family rate for a co-op member in the Merrimack Valley would be $928 a month using the Steward limited network, compared with $1,160 for a plan with comparable benefits that could be purchased last month.
The plans have a range of deductibles that employees have to pay upfront, with the largest savings going to businesses that buy the high-deductible plans. For example, individuals might pay $2,000 and families $4,000 before their insurance kicks in under one of the highest-deductible plans, compared with $500 for individuals and $1,000 for families in a low-deductible plan.
In addition to about 3,500 members from the retailers association, ranging from restaurants to hardware stores to dry cleaners, the co-op also can cover about 500 members of the Massachusetts Package Stores Association.
Enrollment will get underway this week for the year starting April 1, the largest renewal period for the small-business market. Merchants that are not part of these trade groups would have to join to get co-op rates.
