The Nevada Builders Alliance (NBA) has partnered with Prominence Health Plans to offer Association Health Plans to its members. These Association Health Plans may offer better benefits for a lower price. These are exclusive to members of the Nevada Builders Alliance. These health insurance plans are exclusively available to small businesses.
NBA is an association exclusively for builders and contractors. Members may be in the trades, subcontractors or a directly related field. At the end of 2018, the Nevada Builders Alliance partnered with Prominence Health Plans to take advantage of the new Association Health Plan trend. Association plans do not include many of the fees and overhead costs mandated by the Affordable Care Act. In general, they act as a large group, such as an employer with over 100 employees does. As a result, they can offer plans with much lower prices.
The requirement to get started
There are no health statements required to join these plans. However, prices are set based on the size of the group. Generally, groups with less than 20 employees are still seeing lower prices from other builder association health plans. It’s not unusual for the group to be categorized based on their SIC code as well. This means higher risk industries may receive a higher rate.
Start Dates
All Nevada Builders Alliance health plans begin with a November ‘18, December ‘18 or January ‘19 start date. They will all renew at the same time on January 1st, 2020. There are rules in order to join the group mid-year. The group needs to prove they had prior coverage in place all year, and the group needs to be a current member of the Nevada Builders Alliance.
Just like any new group, Prominence will also need the following information:
- Must be a Nevada Small Business
- First months premium payment
- Quarterly Wage and Contribution report
- Employee enrollment forms
- Group master application
- Prior insurance carriers bill
- Proof of NBA membership
The guideline is fairly strict regarding timing and getting started. Applications received in full by the 25th of this month will start next month. If they receive it after the 25th, they bump it out an extra month.
Next Years Rates
Rate increases from year to year will depend on how healthy the group is. More specifically: Claims Experience. The rates are usually holding for the first 2 years. During this time the group is still establishing its history. In short, the insurance company doesn’t have enough data. The plan is too new. Consequently, during the first 2 years, the rates usually don’t adjust significantly. Once the group is more than 2 years old the insurance company starts looking at claims history.
