THE HEALTH insurance companies that have been fighting the decision by the Patrick administration to stand up for small businesses apparently have new allies in Jim Stergios and Amy Lischko (“Health care fails small businesses,’’ Op-ed May 12).
Matt McGinity, CEO of SuperLogics in Waltham, would disagree with Stergios and Lischko’s conclusion that the Massachusetts Health Connector isn’t benefiting small businesses. Rather than pay the exorbitant 23 percent rate increase his carrier wanted to impose, McGinity shopped on the Connector website and found a plan that saved his company and employees $9,300 this year for comparable coverage.
And while the authors seem displeased that so many low-income wage earners are now insured through the Connector, they ignore the fact that nearly half the people in the state who have purchased private, unsubsidized insurance on their own since 2006 did so through the Connector.
Equally disturbing are other claims the authors make. Membership in Business Express is double what they write, and the Connector’s administrative spending is 25 percent less than they suggest.
The Utah exchange they praise is a shell of the Massachusetts Connector with no regulatory responsibilities. The rate of uninsured people there is three times that of Massachusetts. Maybe the authors think that’s a good thing, too.
Joan Fallon
Director of public education
Massachusetts Health Connector
Boston 
