Why do MEC plans have a negative reputation?
If you're an employer, you know that offering a comprehensive benefits package is key to attracting and retaining employees.
Benefits packages come in all different shapes and sizes, and an employer's budget can have a big impact on the type of benefit package offered.
Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) plans can provide an employer the opportunity to offer a quality benefit without breaking the bank. However, MECs have often been given a bad rap.
The popularity of MEC plans has risen in recent years, but employers might be hesitant to consider them due to their "negative" reputation.
In recent years MEC plans have developed a bit of a "snake oil" connotation because of how they were rolled out eight years ago.
In 2014, the cost of health insurance increased significantly because carriers had to comply with the rules of the Affordable Care Act. As costs increased, MEC plans became a convenient option.
Unfortunately, at that time, some unethical brokers were selling MEC plans as a full replacement to major medical plans. In addition, they were offering MEC plans to ineligible companies who had full-time employees eligible for affordable major medical coverage.
With this behavior it's easy to see why MEC plans have a bad reputation.
Here's the reality:
MEC plans have evolved since 2014, and they offer an employer a great opportunity to provide a solid level of protection to employees who are not eligible for a major medical plan.
At Evolved Benefits, we've worked hard to improve the reputation of the MEC plan by evolving the program we offer.
Now, you may think MEC plans are not "real insurance", but it's a great fit for an employee population that greatly lacking access to quality coverage.
If you think MEC plans don't provide much coverage let me put that myth to rest, as well.
Though MEC plans don't provide coverage for "big ticket" services like hospitalization, they still offer robust coverage for necessary care like acute services, primary care, specialists, Urgent Care, labs, x-rays, and generic drugs. And that do it at a very affordable rate.
If you are interested in continuing the conversation about MEC plans, reach out, and we will walk you through it.