Association Health Plans & the Future of American Health Insurance (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780578414119)

Association Health Plans & The Future of American Health Insurance is not only the definitive work on emergent association health insurance but a brilliant commentary on coming changes to the health insurance landscape as well as the unfinished work of health reform.

Written by a healthcare thought leader who has not only published research in the field but also served as a conceptual architect for a health insurance exchange, the book evidences a unique intersection of policy and implementation insights. Given new regulation, enrollment in association health plans is expected to grow by millions in the few years. Businesses and the self-employed have read news stories that these plans can dramatically reduce insurance costs but the articles often fail to address questions such as:

• How exactly can association plans achieve savings?
  
• How does association coverage differ from Obamacare?
  
• Who can join an association health plan?
  
• How can businesses collaborate to provide low-cost health coverage to their employees?
  
• What are the benefit requirements for association plans?
  
• Can freelancers, sole-proprietors, and contractors be covered?
  
• How do you decide between fully-insured and self-insured plan funding?
  
• What rules have regulators enacted to discourage plan mismanagement?
  

Association Health Plans & The Future of American Health Insurance not only answers these questions but also considers near-term changes expected for insurance markets as well as the future of health reform. Topics ranging from benefit obligations and third-party administrators to new federal regulation are explored in straight-forward and clear discussions.

Written with wit and humanity, each chapter avoids politicized commentary on association health plans and, instead, provides clear, actionable information. By the end of the book, readers will not only understand the mechanics of association health coverage but the major tasks entailed in the creation of a new association health plan. Armed with this information, readers can decide if they wish to pursue cost-saving health insurance designs that were previously limited to large companies.