One of the city’s largest professional organizations is opting out of ObamaCare, saying it can save its members $178 a month and provide such options as yoga and wellness classes by sticking with its current insurance carrier.
“We carefully evaluated whether it would be in the best interest of our members if we went on the exchange,” the Freelancers Union said in a message to its 225,000 members.
“While plans on the exchanges are open to everyone, our insurance plans are designed [specifically] for freelancers.”
The 29,000 freelancers who get coverage through the group are entitled to “wellness” services that include yoga and health classes with no out-of-pocket expenses.
“For the second year in a row, we also have a zero rate increase in our plans,” the group boasted.
“If we were on the [ObamaCare] exchange, we would have to alter our plans and raise our prices.”
Officials estimated a switch to ObamaCare would force it to raise premiums by $178 a month per member, or $1,936 a year.
Earlier this year, the Freelancers persuaded the state Legislature and Gov. Cuomo to approve a law granting the group a waiver from enrolling in the new national health-insurance program.
As a result, the union isn’t obligated to take anyone who applies for its insurance coverage and doesn’t have to pay a 3 percent tax on its plan.
The law — which treats the organization as a self-insured small group in what was called a demonstration project — was sponsored by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).
Business leaders and other insurers cried foul, claiming the politically potent Freelancers got a sweetheart deal to escape the sting of ObamaCare, while they’re forced to participate.