Press May Contact: Bruce Miller- Executive Director Tencon Health

Press May Contact: Bruce Miller- Executive Director Tencon Health Plan
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 517-896-9897
Topic: Premium Subsidy Plan for People with Employer Sponsored Coverage
If the premiums you pay to cover yourself and your family under your employer’s health
insurance are more than 9.5% of your family income, you may qualify for special financial
assistance from the Tencon Health Plan.
Bruce Miller, Executive Director of the Tencon Health Plan, says he learned about the
problem of people with unaffordable employer-sponsored coverage from a staff person who
was helping a family sign up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act last fall. “She was
approached by a person with employer-sponsored insurance who wanted to buy insurance
through Healthcare.gov -- the Healthcare Marketplace – because insurance there would cost
less.”
He said the enrollment staff looked at the details of the person’s situation and agreed they
could save money by getting insurance for themselves and their family through the
Marketplace. But when she tried to help the person enroll she found out neither the person
or their dependents were eligible for Marketplace coverage. It turns out that under the
rules, most people, including dependents, eligible for employer-sponsored coverage are not
eligible for the subsidized plans offered on the federal Marketplace.
“If your coverage is unaffordable because you are adding your spouse or child to the policy
offered by your employer you cannot take advantage of the better deal you would get in the
Healthcare Marketplace.” This problem is referred to as “The Family Glitch” and Miller said
that if you are affected by this, the Tencon Health Plan would like to talk to you.
The Tencon Health Plan is a non-profit corporation funded by area hospitals and county
government. It is dedicated to helping uninsured people get coverage. It ended its old
program of assistance when the Affordable Care Act and the Healthy Michigan Program
went into effect, but it still has funds to use to fill gaps in coverage.
The Tencon Health Plan has dedicated some of its money to a special fund to help people in
the service area caught in the “Family Glitch,” Miller said. “The fund will not pay for
deductibles and co-pays, but if you qualify you might be able to get your employersponsored insurance for yourself and your family for about the same amount of money you
would pay for the same level of insurance through the Marketplace.
People in this situation can find out if they qualify for the special help by contacting Jen
Hansen at 231-316-8554.
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