Overdrive

March 2015

Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info

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March 2015 | Overdrive | 81 Carlson Logistics_OVD1113_PG.indd 1 10/22/13 2:52 PM enrollment got underway, Ballard pur- sued a partnership to build a private exchange to connect with the federal and state exchanges in collaboration with the Healthy Trucking Association of America and an online broker. Ultimately, as problems mounted for the federal and state exchanges, the exchange never materialized. Ballard fared better this time. Prior to the open enrollment period this winter, he and the National Association of Independent Truckers worked with Chicago-based ConnectedHealth, which provides an online platform through which users can shop for insurance. Together they opened the new Truckers Insurance Exchange (tie.connected- health.com, @TIETruckers on Twitter). It's a private exchange geared toward drivers and owner-operators with agents who are able to offer assistance through the entire process, from a determination of subsidy/premium discount level to selecting a plan and enrolling. The existence of the subsidies, says Zenk, also can account in part for what little slowdown in premium increases has been seen. Subsidies have helped tamp down insurance companies' risk of covering a pool of those who only need insurance the most. "We cannot offer a subsidy," notes Russell, though the OOIDA exchange's advisers are able to help association members determine if they may qual- ify. If so, members then connect to the federal or state exchange to purchase with a subsidy. If not, the OOIDA exchange is a good option. Though estimates have varied to as high as 50 percent for the number of owner-oper- ators who may qualify for premium discounts on the exchanges, Russell says that "very few of the members qualify." Russell points to other factors that are putting upward pressure on insur- ance rates, such as the closure of state- run high-risk pools that traditionally had covered those with pre-existing conditions. Those programs are no longer a necessity, given that the ACA outlaws such conditions as a reason to deny coverage. "That's scary for insur- ance companies," Russell says. "That causes a bigger drive for those unin- sured to seek more health care." If such trends continue, options for help geared specifically to owner-oper- ators, such as the private marketplaces, could shrink. For those leaning toward getting coverage for the first time, a dwindling choice of what could be increasingly expensive insurance products versus the non-coverage penalty increases set for 2015 and 2016 could put many owner-operators between a rock and a hard place. DAY OF RECKONING Owner-operator Bryan Spoon and his independent dispatcher business partner, Anna Lowdermilk, are covered by bronze plans purchased on the federal health insurance exchange. (Continued from Page 31)

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