Vermont Business MagazineThe Vermont Retail and Grocers Association is pleased to announce four different insurance plans available to existing and prospective members. VRGA has partnered with Business Resource Services in an effort to expand access to health insurance to small businesses and their employees.
VRGA members located in Vermont with fewer than 100 full-time equivalent employees may save up to 10 percent of the cost of providing health care plans to employees through the Blue Cross Blue Shield offerings. The plans are HRA and HSA compatible.
Members can enroll in the 2019 plans during the open enrollment period from Nov. 1through Dec. 15, 2018. Businesses that do not currently offer health insurance coverage to employees can enroll in the association plan by joining VRGA and will have access to all VRGA member services, which can be found at vtrga.org/Benefits. VRGA members, and businesses interested in joining VRGA to take advantage of the health plans and other association benefits, can find more information at vtrga.org/Benefits, or by calling 802-839-1928.
“Employer-sponsored health insurance coverage is one of the greatest financial burdens on employers,” said VRGA President Erin Sigrist. “Employers around the state have weighed the difficult decision between eliminating various benefits to offer the more expensive health plans or saddling employees with the full financial burden themselves or the risk of not having coverage at all. This new partnership with BRS will provide retailers and grocers the opportunity to once again offer this important benefit to employees and reinvest any savings into their business and communities.”
The Employee Benefit Research Institute reports that nationally, insurance offer rates among small employers have been falling since 2009. Employers with fewer than 10 employees faced a 36 percent decrease; employers with 10 to 24 employees noticed a 26 percent decrease, and employers with 25 to 99 employees reported a 10 percent decrease. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that the percentage of private sector employers in Vermont offering health insurance has decreased by nearly 13% since 2013. The Trump administration is once again allowing association health plans through an executive order signed by the president in January.
Vermont Retail and Grocers Association creates a unified voice for its engaged membership to influence legislation through lawmaker and public education. Its benefits are fundamental to its members’ economic success and to their positive community impact. VRGA is the leading voice representing Vermont’s retail industry. The membership is inclusive of a variety of business types and models, collaborative and extremely diverse. Members, policy makers, community leaders and valued stakeholders recognize the association’s critical role in shaping legislation, improving the community, and contributing to each member’s success and the state’s economic vitality.
Source: VRGAwww.vtrga.org10.26.2018