“Any group can negotiate a group rate.”
This is not true in California. Only groups of 51 or more can “negotiate” a rate. Small groups of 2-50 cannot. Their rates are fixed, yet depend on their RAF (Risk Adjustment Factor - from .90 to 1.10 being the highest) - meaning how healthy the group is as a whole. The trade off is small group coverage is guaranteed issue - you cannot be declined, where a large group can be, although rarely are because the money they get for more people will balance out the RAF - and they can also “negotiate” a higher rate for a group if someone in the group has something that requires a lot of care such as MS or cancer.
The problem I have with McCain’s $5k tax credit is very few plans here in CA are that cheap annually, and if they are, they’re horrid plans that offer virtually no coverage and are for 20-somethings who never leave the house.
Individual plans here are even worse. You can be declined for even the smallest reason, but because it’s CA, you can apply for HIPPA coverage which is guaranteed issue - but the premiums are astronomical. (None of our HIPPA clients are under $1k a month - and the youngest is in their 20s.)
That stinks that California restricts that. When I was self-employed, I remember finding some organizations targeted at small business that offered group health insurance. I think the costs are high for everyone, though; it’s just hidden in employer contribution for those that work for a large corporation. The underlying problem is that the cost of health care is rising.