Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
By 
March 11, 2021 at 12:10 PM
What You Need to Know
- About 56% of small U.S. employers went into the COVID-19 pandemic offering health coverage.
- Kevin Patterson's exchange has an affiliate that's marketing ICHRAs.
- He says one key to courting hourly workers is to simplify the math.
A man who has helped about 184,000 Colorado residents get health coverage this year said Wednesday that he believes the COVID-19 pandemic is causing a noticeable number of small employers to drop their health benefits.
Kevin Patterson, executive director of the Connect for Health Colorado Affordable Care Act public health insurance exchange, talked about Colorado’s small-group health insurance market briefly, during a panel discussion that was part of America’s Health Insurance Plans’ National Health Policy Conference.
AHIP presented the 2021 version of the conference through the web.
“In terms of what’s happening in Colorado, we’re really hearing from a lot of companies, especially those that are less than 50 employees, and, really, they’re mostly less than 10 employees, that are just literally eliminating all of their health insurance,” Patterson said.
“I’ve had one company that was actually a little bit larger, won’t say their name, that got rid of everything every insurance covers,” Patterson added.
Patterson said the company eliminated its benefit plans to avoid having to pay any costs associated with COBRA benefits continuation rules.
“They were just trying to keep the doors open,” Patterson said.
