When I was working for a major electronics company, employees can choose from a number of insurance companies. The company will only contribute x amount of money to you health benefit. Any premium above that amount will be taken out of your pay. Anything below will be added to your pay.
They were, Harvard Pilgrim, Matthew Thornton, Anthem, Cigna, Liberty Mutual to name the major players, there were others that I can't recall. All insure in NH at the time. If you have a healthy family, CIGNA is the cheapest. If you have major health issues, Liberty Mutual may be expensive but you are covered. The rest have pros and cons so you need to compare, but most of the 5,000 employees were either CIGNA or Liberty Mutual. Because of that Anthem (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) actually wanted to 'drop out' of the plan. I guess they don't play very well with others.
I was hoping the ACA will work in the same principle but it does not. I was also hoping ACA will put a cap on premiums or invite competition. This clearly shows what lobbyists do and the damage that PAC money can do the taxpayers.
