Clark Howard's Tips
Small biz gets boost from new health proposalMay 30, 2008
People see Clark as a beacon of non-political discourse in the talk radio world. But, Clark believes it's reasonable to step in from time to time, especially if a politician has an idea that he thinks has merit. So in the interest of bipartisanship, Clark discusses a health proposal fromÉwait for itÉ2 Democrats and 2 Republicans!
Their joint proposal, the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP), would make it possible for small business employees and entrepreneurs to receive a tax credit for buying health coverage. SHOP would also allow multi-person risk pools that would lower premiums.
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CLARK'S TIP TOPICS
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Meanwhile, the issue of redlining is a hot one in the insurance realm. Clark wants transparency in health coverage and thinks it could be achieved if there were only 8 plans offered to small businesses: 2 HMOs, 2 PPOs, 2 HSAs and 2 of the traditional 80/20 splits. Every insurer would have to sell identical plans, and they could charge what they wanted for them. That way you could switch to another insurer's HMO plan No. 2 if your insurer's HMO plan No. 2 is too costly. As always, Clark says the real risk to insurers if they don't shape up will come from the threat of socialized medicine.
