Murrah Music Finds Group Insurance Answers Through CMA Sound Healthcare
Robert L. Doerschuk
October 10, 2008
Roger Murrah knows as much as anyone about writing songs. He has written or co-written 76 hit songs, according to Billboard. He served two terms as President of the Nashville Songwriters Association International and is currently serving a third term as Chairman of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation. A Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member since 2005, he also knows how to run a successful publishing company, which he has done for 18 years as head of Murrah Music Group.
But finding the best health plan for your employees can be even harder than earning a BMI Millionaire Award for composing "We're in This Love Together" with Keith Stegall. Just ask Murrah: He's done both.
"It's outrageous," he admitted, while seated behind a desk festooned with BMI Awards at his spacious attic office overlooking Music Row. "It's unbelievable that an independent company has been able to offer insurance at all."
Reviewing and often replacing their insurance program has become an annual rite at Murrah Music. And when it became apparent that their carrier last year was charging the company 107 percent of the standard street rate to cover their small group of employees, Murrah decided to seek a more long-lasting solution.
The answer proved close to home - in a CMA Close Up article introducing CMA Sound Healthcare, which offers comprehensive health insurance for domestic CMA members, often well below rates available elsewhere to self-employed individuals as well as those employed by CMA member organizations. An appointment was set up with Henry Badillo, Director of Group Health for the program. One meeting was all it took to add Murrah Music to the growing list of companies to come onboard with a group policy.
"They had a $5,000 individual out-of-pocket on their old policy," Badillo noted. "We got that down to $2,500. And we were able to cut the cost of their dental plan literally in half while giving them a better plan too."
No company is too small to qualify for coverage, Badillo emphasized. "There are plenty of influential two-employee groups in the music industry. But we treat them the same way we treat a thousand-employee group. The key for the smaller companies is that while a carrier can decline to cover an individual policy, legislation ensures that they cannot decline coverage for groups from two to 50 employees. That's one reason why we're making sure that CMA Sound Healthcare offers the best options for group as well as individual plans."
"I'm an organizational member and a regular member of CMA," Murrah concluded. "I know how professionally CMA gets things done. That alone was enough for me to look into the plan - and I'm glad I did."
To learn more about individual and group insurance options, visit the CMA member-only Web site, www.MyCMAworld.com, and click on the CMA Sound Healthcare link.
2008 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
But finding the best health plan for your employees can be even harder than earning a BMI Millionaire Award for composing "We're in This Love Together" with Keith Stegall. Just ask Murrah: He's done both.
"It's outrageous," he admitted, while seated behind a desk festooned with BMI Awards at his spacious attic office overlooking Music Row. "It's unbelievable that an independent company has been able to offer insurance at all."
Reviewing and often replacing their insurance program has become an annual rite at Murrah Music. And when it became apparent that their carrier last year was charging the company 107 percent of the standard street rate to cover their small group of employees, Murrah decided to seek a more long-lasting solution.
The answer proved close to home - in a CMA Close Up article introducing CMA Sound Healthcare, which offers comprehensive health insurance for domestic CMA members, often well below rates available elsewhere to self-employed individuals as well as those employed by CMA member organizations. An appointment was set up with Henry Badillo, Director of Group Health for the program. One meeting was all it took to add Murrah Music to the growing list of companies to come onboard with a group policy.
"They had a $5,000 individual out-of-pocket on their old policy," Badillo noted. "We got that down to $2,500. And we were able to cut the cost of their dental plan literally in half while giving them a better plan too."
No company is too small to qualify for coverage, Badillo emphasized. "There are plenty of influential two-employee groups in the music industry. But we treat them the same way we treat a thousand-employee group. The key for the smaller companies is that while a carrier can decline to cover an individual policy, legislation ensures that they cannot decline coverage for groups from two to 50 employees. That's one reason why we're making sure that CMA Sound Healthcare offers the best options for group as well as individual plans."
"I'm an organizational member and a regular member of CMA," Murrah concluded. "I know how professionally CMA gets things done. That alone was enough for me to look into the plan - and I'm glad I did."
To learn more about individual and group insurance options, visit the CMA member-only Web site, www.MyCMAworld.com, and click on the CMA Sound Healthcare link.
2008 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.