STEPHEN RYAN
Competitive rates
Two months before a universal health care law takes effect in Massachusetts, the state’s Realtor association is resuscitating efforts to help uninsured members.
On the state level, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors is trying to connect members to a range of group health plans through a program it recently initiated. The association has been trying to help uninsured agents and brokers over the last few months because all Bay State residents must have insurance by July 1 under a state law passed last year.
Meanwhile, Realtors throughout the country head to Capitol Hill next week to urge lawmakers to pass legislation that would enable self-employed workers and small-business employees to join forces through an industry or professional group to negotiate lower health insurance costs.
The National Association of Realtors, along with a coalition of other groups, aggressively campaigned for the legislation last year. But the bill didn’t move forward because it faced stiff opposition from health issues advocacy groups and Democrats who are pushing for universal health care coverage, including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.
Kennedy chairs the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, which is studying the bill. Last year, the committee sent the bill to the Senate but it failed to move to the floor for a vote by just five votes.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that Sen. Kennedy’s preference is universal health care. He’s been trying to accomplish that for at least 20 years and obviously that’s not working. Our sense is that half-measures are better than taking no action at all,” said Peter P. Casey, a Weston broker who is chairman of NAR’s Business Issues Committee.
“While we’re waiting for universal health care, people are being hurt by the absence of some other way to deal with this,” Casey added.
Casey said a group of legislators led by Republican Sen. Michael P. Enzi of Wyoming is continuing to promote and rework the legislation.
“The National Association of Realtors is at the table and is an important player in the discussion and is actively trying to promote, together with various small-business groups, a plan which would allow small business to aggregate negotiations with insurers in a way that would produce plans that are competitive with unions and major corporations,” he said.
Spreading the Word
Local Realtors are particularly interested in the issue because Massachusetts requires residents to state whether they have insurance on their tax returns. Those who don’t secure insurance in 2007 face a tax penalty. Uninsured residents will lose their personal tax exemption and will be fined 50 percent of the monthly cost of a health insurance plan for every month without insurance.
Some lower-income agents may be eligible for state-subsidized plans under the Commonwealth Care Health Insurance Program. Such plans are available to people whose employers don’t offer insurance and whose annual incomes fall below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $30,630 for a single person.
Free insurance is available to people earning $15,315 or less.
Larger real estate firms typically offer insurance coverage to executives and staff but not to sales agents, who are considered independent contractors. Some real estate agents obtain insurance coverage through a spouse who works for a company that provides a health care plan. But others must buy costly insurance on their own.
In a survey of 1,800 Realtors conducted by MAR, more than half indicated that they purchase health insurance themselves.
But NAR estimates there are thousands of Realtors nationwide without insurance. The trade group, which has more than 1 million members, has stated that as many as 28 percent of Realtors across the United States are uninsured.
In Massachusetts, MAR initiated the Realtor Health Care Program this spring to help agents and brokers without insurance. MAR’s Business Development Committee spent three months researching health insurance options and worked with a consulting firm.
The association put together a program provided by Health Services Administrators, a Braintree-based firm that provides employee benefits to small businesses, to offer a range of group plans with varying costs and coverage.
As part of the Realtor Health Care Program, uninsured members who seek help will be connected with a representative from Health Services Administrators who will talk with the Realtor and determine what insurance plan best meets their needs, explained MAR General Counsel Stephen Ryan.
Members will be able to choose from plans through eight providers including Aetna Inc., Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, Fallon Community Health and Tufts.
Rates for the plans are competitive, said Ryan.
“We felt [the Realtor Health Care Program] provided people a quick way to do research that they might have to do on their own,” said David Hurley, a Reading real estate broker and vice president of business development for MAR.
The program is sure to a relieve Realtors who in the past had to navigate through the insurance options on their own. Prior to the Realtor Health Care Program, agents and brokers who contacted their local Realtor association seeking insurance assistance were routinely referred to the local chamber of commerce or other business groups that offer group plans to members.
Now, local Realtor groups will be able to refer members to MAR.
Ryan has been trying to spread the word about the state’s health care law, the association’s new health care program and other insurance options by meeting with local Realtor groups and including detailed information in the association’s magazine and on its Web site.
