Educational Work Aims to Help Small Business Owners Navigate Health Insurance

PROVIDENCE, RI – The Health Insurance Small Employer Taskforce today announced a series of workshops to help employers better understand health care issues.

Entitled “Health Insurance for Small Employers: Understanding and Navigating the Market,” the one-hour presentations are designed for small business owners and nonprofit leaders who employ 50 or fewer full time workers and currently purchase or are considering purchasing health insurance for their companies.

The workshops were developed in partnership with the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner and are being presented with local Chambers of Commerce throughout Rhode Island.

“We regularly hear from small business owners who have questions about how small group health insurance works and what causes their rates to change,” said Mark Gray, coordinator of the Taskforce. “For many of these small businesses, health care costs are their second or third largest expense. Employers want to know what it is that’s driving these costs and what they can do to realize savings.”

The workshops are designed to cover a range of topics from the basics of how deductibles and co-insurance work, to the ins-and-outs of the annual rate setting process, to the difference between public and private health insurance exchanges and the open market. Questions will be encouraged, from the very basic to more complicated topics.

The dates and times of the workshops are as follows:

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20TH: GREATER WESTERLY-PAWCATUCK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
8:00-9:00am at Amanda’s Pantry, 169 Main Street, Westerly
-Free for Chamber members; $20 for non-members

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24TH: NORTHERN RI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
8:30-9:30am at the NRI Chamber Offices, 6 Blackstone Valley Place #402, Lincoln
-Free for Chamber members and non-members

MONDAY, MARCH 2: GREATER CRANSTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
8:30-9:30am at the Corner Bakery Cafe, Garden City Center, 140 Hillside Road, Cranston
-Free for Chamber members and non-members

THURSDAY, MARCH 12TH: CENTRAL RI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
8:30-9:30am at Steamship Historical Society of America, 2500 Post Rd, Warwick
-Free for Chamber members and non-members.

FRIDAY, MARCH 13TH: NEWPORT COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
8:30-9:30am at the Newport Chamber, 35 Valley Road, Middletown
-Free for Chamber members; $10 for non-members

Registration for each workshop is required. You can find links to register for each session at www.RITaskforce.com.

If your Chamber of Commerce or other professional organization is interested in hosting this seminar, you can contact the Small Employer Taskforce by email at info@ritaskforce.com or by phone at 401-206-7044.

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