WellPoint Opens Business-Focused Site for HCR

WellPoint and some of its its Anthem-branded divisions are promoting a Web site on which the carrier has provided tools to help business owners determine how health care reform will affect them.

The site features a grandfathering tool and a tax calculator. The grandfathering tool is designed to help businesses better understand what grandfathering means, if they qualify for it, and what options are available to them with regard to their health plan, WellPoint says.

Through a partnership with H&R Block, the site's tax calculator ostensibly helps small business owners "understand the financial impact, as well as the opportunities that accompany the changes in the health care system," WellPoint says.

The calculator includes information on provisions such as the small business health care premium credit for qualified employers with 25 or fewer employees and average annual wages under $50,000; requirements to provide employee coverage for full-time employees who work for businesses with 50 or more employees; employer penalties for not providing coverage when at least one full-time employee is enrolled in a subsidized health care plan, and the excise tax on high-cost health plans, which applies to plans that cost more than $10,200 for an individual and $27,500 for a family.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio