Small Business Owner Learns Affordable Care Act From Arches

  
Kathie Chadbourne  Avenue Bistro on Third Director talks about her business and why she chose Arches Health Plan for her employees.

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5505 S. 900 E. Suite 100, Salt Lake City, UT 84117
801.312.9860

Opinion: Health Reform and Lower Hours for Employees

Last week the local airwaves carried the decision of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to limit the hours of Deseret Industries (D.I.) part-time employees to 29 hours a week. This was in response to potential employer penalties enacted in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Many derided the decision as cold and calculated.

Through miscommunication and lack of education, the mountain of confusion associated with the Affordable Care Act continues to grow. It is my opinion that last week’s initial gut reaction isn’t warranted and like the ACA or not, learning about the details of the ACA could help clarify the decision of the LDS church. Clarity with this issue will be paramount as other businesses make similar decisions this coming year.

Every business owner will agree, “Without Margin there is no Mission.” Deseret Industries was formed in 1936 in response to the Great Depression. Their mission was to “to help Church members help themselves.” From the time of its creation, it has spread its wings and now provides invaluable training to both LDS Church members and non-members alike. Their value can also be seen on a daily basis through the affordable goods provided to those in greatest need.

Those with a sincere conscious know the LDS Church desires continual success for both Deseret Industries and each of its employees. All businesses that flourish have a deep investment in maintaining their mission and vision. This service-oriented Church-owned company has not maintained continual growth for more than 75 years by accident. Logic and reason can be found behind every decision made by the D.I.

As a physician, I have cared for quite a few D.I. employees. Through each of these interactions one thing has been clear; they were employed by a company who treated them well and gave them a chance no one else would, whatever their circumstance.

D.I. provided each of them an opportunity to establish a life with more economic independence and a feeling of self-worth. We appropriately don’t have access to their accounting records and therefore are unaware of the financial sustainability of this program with the implementation of the new healthcare law.

At this very moment, many companies struggle with similar decisions and may be guided into the wrong decision if they are fearful of the uneducated and misguided rancor from employees or media. Depending on the number of employees, they will may ask the some of the following questions:

• What is different if I have 1-49 employees versus 50 or more employees?
• Prior to this year, I have been unable to afford health insurance for my employees, how can I now financially justify providing health insurance?
• What are the financial penalty implications for me as a business owner?
• If I choose not to provide health insurance, what penalties will I face and what are the other non-cost implications of the ACA?
• Do I need to cut down my workforce and/or limit hours to avoid a penalty to maintain my business as the Church chose?
• What alternatives are available to companies who choose not to provide health insurance?
• I already provide health insurance, what are the benefits of disbanding my current plan and sending my employees to the health exchange and how do I do this?
• How do I educate my employees on these decisions I am making so they understand, and then provide them assistance in making wise choices around their health insurance purchasing?
• I already provide health insurance, is there a better option for me and my employees?
• If I offer an employee only plan, will I be harming the families of my employees by preventing them the opportunity to take advantage of available subsidies?
• Do part-time employees count towards the 50 employee number and what is part-time?
• As a large business, I have to provide “Affordable insurance”, how do I figure out what “affordable health insurance” is?
• What are the benefits of sending my employees to the health exchange?
• Are there ways to use an HRA while taking the ACA penalties to cut my costs and at the same time providing my employees with health insurance?

These are only a select few of the many questions every business owner will ask in the coming months. The complexity of the Affordable Care Act should never be taken lightly. I have absolute faith the LDS Church seriously deliberated the decision to cut down the hours of their part-time employees. This decision was the best opportunity to continue the mission of Deseret Industries.

The Affordable Care Act will provide options for health care to those who have not been able to afford health insurance in the past. I invite everyone to take a deeper look into this new law. Like it or not, it is the law!

Through education, we will clearly understand how to best navigate the ACA and help our employees, family and friends. Do not settle for opinions of those seeking their best interest and may not have your best interest in mind. Seek the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the ACA and how it will affect you, your employees and your business.

If you want answers to these and any other questions you have, we at Arches Health Plan would love to talk and share answers with you so you can make your Best decision. Remember there are Good Decisions, Better Decisions and Best Decisions! Don’t settle for a Good Decision when a Better or even a Best Decision is available!

We believe we are the non-profit, member-oriented and governed organization to educate you in an unbiased manner. If we are your Best answer great, if there is a Better answer, great. If you are afraid of what is coming, we need to talk. Many we have talked with have found answers that helped alleviate their fears to one degree or another.

When you have questions about health insurance or health reform, visit our website at www.archeshealth.org, email us at info@archeshealth.org or call us at 801-312-9860 to set up a meeting to discuss your options further.

Douglas Roland Smith, M.D.

Family Medicine/Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine

Chief Medical Officer – Arches Health Plan

Credits:

http://okespanol.com/opinion-health-reform-and-lower-hours-for-employees/

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5505 S. 900 E. Suite 100, Salt Lake City, UT 84117
801.312.9860
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801.312.9860
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Helping To Educate Small Businesses on Affordable Health Care Act - Arches Health Plan

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Information Campaign on Sugar

Sugar is Killing Us is a campaign to spread information about the negative effects of sugar and empower people to make better food choices.

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http://www.facebook.com/SugarIsKillingUs

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(801) 550-3197
5505S 900E, Ste. 100,
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Running Starters - Arches

I can’t tell you how often I am asked to see why somebody's foot hurts after they start to exercise. They typical story goes as follows, “I decided I was going to get in shape so I decided I was going to start running. I went to (insert your local sporting goods store-even running stores) to get some shoes and they told me I needed these shoes (as they held them up). For my brother in law he took the advice of a friend to buy a nice $200 pair of cushioning/neutral running shoes. My neighbor was directed to $150 dollar cushioning/neutral running shoe. My wife was given a $120 motion control running shoe. The next thing I did was make them take their shoes off, roll up their pants, let me evaluate their foot then have them walk across the room a couple times as I evaluated their gait. Each time they had been given the wrong shoe. The next step was asking them to show me the last running shoe they used and if it caused foot pain. Each time they said the old pair was fine, was the right shoe for their foot (chose them just by luck of the draw) and usually cost less. I then taught them a bit about running shoes and what to look for when they specifically bought a shoe for their foot not their friend’s foot.
Two weeks after my neighbor asked me for advice he came up to me at church excited that his foot pain was gone and the pair he bought cost him $70 instead of $150. To better understand your foot and what type of shoes there are I have included numerous links below. Spend some time learning about shoes and looking at your past shoes for tread wear. If you have any question you can go into one of the local running stores. I do however recommend you be careful. Two of my three examples went to the local specialty running stores and were directed to the wrong type of shoe for their foot. I have found if you have the owner of the store or at least the manager evaluate your foot on their treadmill you can get the better selection. Some of the newer employees may be a little inexperienced and in my anecdotal experience have led to most of the bad outcomes. For the store owners, I highly recommend you train these new workers better so I don’t have to keep seeing customers with foot pain and then having to recommend they return their shoes due to bad advice.
Assignment for this week: Read through all the links I have posted and go in and read some more. Find out what type of shoe you need then go out and get it. It doesn’t need to be expensive. Zappo’s has a great link to the different types of shoes you need with ballpark price ranges. I would then take this information and go to the local specialty running store (Wasatch front stores links area below). You can go in with your list for shoes in your price range, try them on, run on the treadmill with slow motion video evaluation to see if they work. In two weeks we will go over more equipment you may need.

Types of Shoes: http://www.zappos.com/running-shoe-fit-guide: Great pictorial guide to different foot types and shoes needed for each.
Neutral/Cushioning: Supinators=Have a tendency to roll to outside of foot
Motion Control: Severe Pronators=Flat Feet
Stability: Pronators=Feet are not flat but when walk collapse on the inside of foot
REI has a great link for you to read through to better understand what kind of foot you have. See link: http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/running-shoes.html.
Great video review of shoe selection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN01PGwpMa8
Good video to on shoe selection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJJN3zBPeeg
Running Stores on the Wasatch Front:
http://saltlakerunningco.com/home/
http://wasatchrunningcenter.com/
http://www.stridersrunning.com/
http://262running.com/
http://www.runners-corner.com/
http://www.fleetfeetamerfork.com/

Dr. Douglas Roland Smith is a graduate of the Medical College of Wisconsin and Chief Medical Officer of Arches Health Plan.

Learning the Positive Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Utah Health Insurance

There is a lot of conflicting information regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. Many people have heard negative things about what it does, what it could do, and even some things it doesn’t even do. While the ACA may have some effects on your Utah health insurance, it’s not a bad thing.

Two really important changes with the Affordable Care Act are providing subsidies to qualified people for the purchase of health insurance in Utah and guaranteed issue so that no matter if there are pre-existing health conditions you have access to healthcare insurance.  Premium subsidies will be available for individuals and families, who may not be able to fully afford health insurance in Utah. You can learn more about the ACA and how it will affect you on our website, www.archeshealth.org.

Many Utah health insurance companies and brokers are pushing their customers to immediately renew or buy old plans of health insurance, so they can keep their commission on the old plans in place. We believe it is smart to wait until October to evaluate all the Utah health plans, so you can benefit from the positives benefits of the ACA and the subsidies and that will be offered on the Marketplace Exchange. To check out how the subsidies are being structured, you can see your own benefits on this webpage, http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/healthpolicy/calculator/index.shtml.
When looking to purchase or renew your Utah healthcare medical insurance, it is always a great idea to do your research and protect your rights, especially with the changes that are occurring in health care. Affordable Utah health insurance is available, and the ACA can help make sure you and your family have access to affordable options.

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5505 S. 900 E. Suite 100, Salt Lake City, UT 84117
801.312.9860

Getting Real Health Care

Health care has always been a big issue for many Americans. There are millions of people in the United States concerned about the affordability of a quality health care plan, and those who do have it are also met with challenges from coverage to patient safety. That is why over the years, health reform has been a priority for the government.  They are constantly looking for ways to improve the quality of life. Most recently, the health insurance exchange provides a new way for consumers to shop, compare and choose the plan that suits their needs.

Now, thanks to the Affordable Care Act’s Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP), consumers have the option of getting health care insurance that is more affordable and consumer-friendly. As a non-profit organization run by their own customers, a CO-OP can provide the best solutions to the health care needs and concerns of its members. Without the pressure to meet investor expectations, all decisions ultimately benefit the members and no one else.

In Utah, Arches Health Plan exists for this purpose. Having received $85 million federal loan funding guarantees, it is available to serve individuals, small businesses and large groups in all 29 counties of Utah. Arches Health Plan is a standard-bearer in health reform where health care can be made more patient-centered,  and most important of all, affordable. Flexible terms, a more personal care delivery process, and a focus on what real health care should be all about gives Arches Health Plan a definite advantage over other options in a health insurance exchange. Their model is not only beneficial to patients but to health care professionals because they are not bound with insurance company rules, thereby enabling doctors to make the best decisions for their patient’ health.

So if you’re a Utahn looking to benefit from health care reform, consider a company that exists for your total benefit—Arches Health Plan. You can get the health care you deserve at a lower cost and higher quality.

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