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Blue Cross to Lower Rates for Small Business in Michigan

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If you own a small business in Michigan, there’s good news on the horizon from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Your rates will actually go down. The Blues know that those Michigan businesses who employ 50 or fewer people already provide a significant amount of health insurance coverage for people living in the Great Lakes State, and say that with all of the pressures on a small employer’s budget, it’s always good news when their insurance company can hold premiums steady year-over-year.  It’s even better news when they can lower them.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan alone covers more than 261,000 Michigan residents with health insurance under the umbrella of the 15,000 small business employers around the state who offer Blues coverage. They recently rolled out the news that small group customers of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will benefit from a downward adjustment in the rates that Blue Cross has filed with state regulators. Rates for small group customers renewing coverage in the third and fourth quarters of 2017 will be, on average, 1.3-percent lower for BCBSM customers, and 3.2-percent lower for customers of their HMO, Blue Care Network.  A note of caution, however, that those reductions are pending state regulatory approval.

The Blues say their ability to reduce insurance rates is a direct result of their success in working with doctors and hospitals statewide to deliver more cost-efficient health care. Those efforts – known as Value Partnerships — have created a more efficient health care system in Michigan over the past 10 years. Blue Cross explains the concept by noting that essentially as anyone who has purchased a more fuel-efficient car can tell you, you’ll pay less for gas over the long term for owning that car, and that’s what’s happening with health care now.

Offering their customers reliable products at affordable price points is a priority for Blue Cross.  They’re especially pleased that this year’s good news comes fast on the heels of last year’s rate moderation and the rate reductions which were announced the year before.

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Small businesses are very important to the stability of health coverage for Michigan residents.  The crew at Blue Cross says they are, “Very pleased that our efforts to keep costs in check are paying off for small employers in cities and towns across our state.”