Dive Brief:
- According to a report by FOX Business, a growing number of hospitals are choosing to self-insure rather than buy health insurance from an outside organization, and moreover, sell health insurance to the community.
- By 2015, every employer with at least 50 or more workers must offer health insurance to those workers or pay a penalty of $2,000 per worker per year. Companies with 50 to 99 employees will face the same penalties by 2016.
- Hospital officials who spoke with Fox said they could offer competitive pricing to small business owners, who otherwise face very large premium increases from year to year.
Dive Insight:
With the ACA throwing a monkey wrench into traditional relationships between hospitals, health plans and employers, health market participants are going to trying new things to see what puts them on top. As we've reported in the past, public health systems and charity hospitals are already developing insurance plans that will hopefully attract patients with more resources than their existing population. It remains to be seen whether plans of this type can be competitive with traditional insurance plans, however.