SmallBusinessNewz

Wellness bill will help cut insurance costs

The state Senate supported a controversial bill that will provide small businesses some pricing relief for their health coverage.

Governor John Lynch wants HealthFirst passage a priority for New Hampshire's government. Not everyone agrees the plan can work.

New Hampshire's UnionLeader.com reported the plan gives small businesses access to a cost cutting program that emphasizes wellness care, chronic disease management, and other concepts. Preventative care that keeps people out of emergency rooms and hospitals should be less expensive for insurers in the long run.

But over the short term, insurers may not be keen on opening a program that had been limited to large employers to smaller firms. One Senator believes the costs of the plan that are unpaid by smaller firms will be passed along to businesses that employ 50 workers or more.

Lynch sees HealthFirst as a necessary aid to small businesses that want to provide healthcare coverage to employees. "Rhode Island passed similar legislation last year, retaining important protections for people and producing a savings of more than 15 percent when compared to similar coverage in the market," his website noted.

While America's critical care prowess means someone with life-threatening injuries has a good chance of pulling through with immediate emergency care, preventative care has lagged for decades. Real cost cutting for insurers as well as businesses can happen with attention to wellness, and treating early symptoms before they become expensive, long-term or catastrophic conditions.