admin @ Tue, 2005-10-25 07:46
Business owner Ema Haq, a member of the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, wants his employees to have a healthy future.
Haq, owner of Bailey's Restaurant, Bailey's Offshore Catering and Bailey Support Service, said he is pleased with the chamber's new initiative to offer health insurance benefits to small business owners like himself.
The chamber held a luncheon Monday to unveil its limited benefits health care plan, which Haq and other small business owners plan to take part in when enrollment begins Nov. 1. The plan will give chamber members and their employees access to a health network.
"(Offering health insurance) is such a big challenge for small businesses like ours," Haq said.
The cost for two plans offered to members will range from $140 a month for one person to $304 a month for a family of three or more.
When Haq joined the chamber, he said he urged the group to look at helping small businesses meet the challenge of offering health care to their employees.
"It is hard to compete and provide health care benefits to our employees," he said.
Dave Matthews of Landry, Harris and Company, which will serve as the local liaison between chamber members and the health care companies, told those attending the luncheon the reason the health care premiums are so low is because of the limits on costs to those in the program.
Chamber members will be able to opt into one or two plans. The Symetra Benefit Plan will provide set dollar benefits for services such as doctor visits, in-patient hospital stays and preventive treatment. The Homeland HealthCare Plan will expand what is offered in the Symetra plan by providing access to a national health care provider network, a 24-hour nurse hot line and a pharmacy hot line.
"We will have online benefit enrollment by Friday," Matthews said. "Many people want to know who is this plan for. It is for all full-time, part-time and seasonal employees that you have."
Health care is a major problem for small businesses, said guest speaker U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette.
"What the chamber has done, Congress couldn't do - come up with an affordable health care plan," he said.
Boustany praised the chamber for its efforts in providing this alternative for employers.
"I think this is a significant local step," he said. "Health care costs are skyrocketing."
Jean Simpson, a salon owner, attended the luncheon Monday to get details on the health care initiative. She said what attracted her to the health care plan was the price.
"I read about it in the paper," she said. "I have insurance now with Blue Cross Blue Shield. I pay double what individuals pay for a policy."
The hair salon owner said she is happy she can afford insurance, but wants to explore the chamber's health offering.
As a member of the chamber's board, Haq has been privy to the work that was done for the past year and a half to develop the health care initiative.
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