The Health Care Reform Act

Changes Everything – Fact or Fiction?

The Amherst Chamber of Commerce receives calls daily from our members questioning how the Health Care Reform Act is going to impact their coverage. They want to know if everyone is getting free health care or only the poor and disadvantaged. We field questions about coverages and benefits and their respective costs. Everyone knows change is coming but they don’t know what that change is. The Chamber is launching an electronic newsletter this month that will be distributed to over 2,000 local business members each month. Included in this newsletter will be factual, real time updates on the status of specific components of the legislation and the impact on our members and the business community.

The law and all aspects of it are being written and re-written each and every day. We will keep you informed as these issues are resolved and ratified. Our relationship with Senator Chuck Schumer and his staff has given us the opportunity to work with his Washington D.C. Health Care Specialist and she will provide us with the most current data available. Included in this month’s newsletter is a link to a letter to Congress from the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, given to us by the Senator’s staff. This communication identifies some useful tools that the Department and their partners across government have created to help our members learn about the benefits available to them as a result of the Affordable Care Act, including their new consumer website, HealthCare.gov, which launched the beginning of July 2010. 

The Insurance Benefits Manager at the Chamber, Christian Solecki, will also be providing a monthly article with updates and options available for group health insurance. The Amherst Chamber of Commerce is the only Chamber in the region that has a licensed insurance professional on staff. As a result, we are the only Chamber that can provide in-house expertise and customized employee benefits for firms with a single employee or 1,000 employees. Unlike insurance brokers in the marketplace, the Amherst Chamber cares about the prosperity of your entire business, not just the commission on your insurance. Couple that with our strong relationships with our public officials who are shaping health care legislation and our collaboration with the carriers and we are the agency to assist you with all of your needs.

July’s Health Care Corner newsletter is a sampling of the type of information we will be including but we welcome your suggestions and recommendations for diversification. Email cdipirro@amherst.org with all of your comments. We will continue to work with all the stakeholders in the health insurance industry to make sure your concerns are addressed.