MEWAs offer a health plan alternative

Rebecca Weirda is co-owner and president of Leigh’s, a clothing shop in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Adam Bird)

The mandate packaged into the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act required a wider range of employers to offer health insurance coverage, and although many smaller employers satisfied that requirement by signing up for a plan on the Small Business Health Options Program Marketplace, others have been seeking different ways to provide employees with health insurance.

One variation of a self-funded insurance plan, a multiple-employer welfare arrangement, is a potential solution for employers who’d prefer to seek options outside of the government-run health insurance exchanges, and Dawn Wright, vice president of insurance services at QualCare, and who’s been working with MEWAs for more than a dozen years.