URGENT: Does anyone have any experience in a "health benefits plan" as opposed to "insurance."
My daughter's employer, a private family-run company, with divisions in other states having about 2700 employees made an announcement last week @ corporate headquarters site that company employees would be moving into a "health benefit plan." Her friend who moved to another division in a far western state had not yet been informed but July 1 the change takes effect. Employee contribution payroll deductions would remain the same; employees may NOT opt out of the plan; they must provide a consent for providing the plan their SS# and complete medical history; they have a single week to do so (note this info has already been provided digitally so that all employees' benefits can begin July 1 of this year so this consent is retro-active to the deed). This is apparently for instant enrollment prior to any open enrollment period.
Her employer is wealthy and we assume an investor in the venture capital money fund that has provided funds for what is apparently this "start-up" "health benefit plan" that no one has ever heard of before. There is a website without a provider list (called open access and neither PPO nor HMO and is the plan is not affiliated with any hospital networks) or plan costs but it does write about how much employers can save. This outfit claims "no copays or co-insurance" and no denials of claims nor any deductibles unless one's present "insurance" plan (option of previously offerred and provided insurance plan in which employer also pays partially) includes an HSA which the new health benefit plan does not offer. Apparently, their chosen doctors will be sent provider sign-ups after employees' visits and are without credentialing or accreditation information. I'm guessing this would make this newly offerred entity a type of "self-insurance." No privacy statement for employees either.
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