Utah Law Promotes, Personal, Portable Insurance

Posted by John LaPlante in Utah on Nov 13th, 2009 | no responses

Post this to Twitter

Gov. Gary Herbert (R-Utah) spoke with The Heritage Foundation about his state’s new insurance exchange. Simply put, it’s a way that employers can help their workers get health insurance. The money gets spent on a tax-free basis (as is the case with all employer-sponsored insurance today), but there are several important differences.

First, the worker, not the boss, picks the plan, so it’s more likely to be tailored to the worker’s wants and needs. Second, the plans are (I believe) portable, which means that if you have one of these arrangements, you don’t lose your insurance plan when you leave work. Third, and this is the part that employers like, they a defined contribution rather than a defined benefit plan, which means that the amount they shell out for insurance is more predictable. Workers may not, however, like this aspect, as it makes explicit what has been true all along: Insurance premiums increase from year to year.

Here’s the video of the governor answering a few questions:

• No Related Posts