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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Q&A: Compliance Key Issue for Employers

SPORT CHALET INC. La Canada Flintridge Business: Publicly traded sporting goods retailer Employees: 2,900 Do you currently offer health insurance, and if so, how long have you done so? CEO Craig Levra: “Our company is almost 54 years old. So there was no one here that remembers a time that we did not offer health insurance to our experts (employees).” What is the benefit, and how many of your employees are covered? About 70 percent of our eligible full-time experts participate. The premiums vary depending on the plan and the number of dependents each expert has covered. Depending on the plan selected, our company subsidizes up to 80 percent of the cost of the plan. We usually assume (the remaining 30 percent of employees) are covered under a spouse’s plan. What is your biggest concern going forward with all the changes? Well we just want to make sure we’re in full compliance with the law. We don’t know what the full costs are going to be. Hopefully, there won’t be too many layers of overhead. Do you know if any adjustments to your health benefits will cover more or fewer employees, or improve or worsen coverage? Well right now we’re studying all of those issues, on how best to comply with the act. And we’re working with our current provider to make sure we do a very good job. We’ll take advantage of everything in the act to the benefit of our employees. Will it raise cost for your business? We don’t know just yet. The good news for us, in terms of the business that we run, is that our (workers) are fit and healthy. So I don’t know that it will have as big of an impact on us financially as it will on other companies and other types of businesses. How do you think it will affect your competitiveness? Since everybody’s got to comply, I don’t think it will have an impact. Everybody’s got to be under the same rules. What are you doing to get ready for the changes? We are in constant communication with our providers and actuaries … to understand the changes to our experts and to our company. If you had the power to make one change, what would it be? The conversation we need to be having is that the United States is the most obese nation in the world, and that is driving health care costs up. We are a charter member of an organization called PHIT America. PHIT stands for Personal Health Investment Today. What we are doing is lobbying Congress as part of the act to include the cost of insurance against wellness programs and that includes purchasing fitness products, becoming part of a gym, becoming more active. So we’re going to introduce the PHIT Act in Congress in the spring. QUALLION LLC Sylmar Business: Private manufacturer of batteries Employees: 150 Do you currently offer health insurance, and if so, how long have you done so? HR Manager Jennifer Fonseca: “Yes we do offer benefits, and we’ve offered it since our inception, which was in 1998.” What is the benefit, and how many of your employees are covered? We offer our employees medical, dental and vision. Quallion pays 75 percent and employees pay the remaining 25 percent. On average an employee is only going to pay $45 a paycheck for medical (not including dental and vision). Employee plus one pays double ($90 a paycheck); employee plus family is going to pay roughly $135 a paycheck. We offer Anthem, Blue Cross and Kaiser. Out of a population of 150, I want to say 120 have elected coverage. (Others) are covered by a spouse or a parent. What is your biggest concern goingforward? The cost. Cost for employees or the company? Both. We want to keep our rates low for employees, but on a business front we want to be competitive. Do you know if any adjustments to your health benefits will cover more or fewer employees, or improve or worsen coverage? I don’t know. I would say it’s too soon to tell. Will it raise cost for your business? I don’t know specifics. It seems likely that there will be cost increases. How do you think it will affect your competitiveness? I think we already are competitive, and as long as we continue to extend benefits to family members at affordable rates, we will continue to be competitive. What are you doing to get ready for the changes? Besides getting information from different sources that provide updates and working with our broker, we’re going to start early on our benefit negotiation process. I think our planning will need to take place earlier in 2013 (than it would in previous years). If you had the power to make one change, what would it be? Grant an extension for making these changes. We need more time. (laughs) – Bailey Brewer

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