CareSource, a health insurance and Medicaid provider headquartered in downtown Dayton, has announced plans to expand into a new office in the former WorkforceOne building at 220 E. Monument Dr. As part of a broad plan for growth in Dayton in Ohio, the company will occupy four of the building’s five floors and shift 200 employees to the new site; Deloitte will remain on the top floor as a sub-leaser.
The company attributes the growth spurt in part to health care reform under the Affordable Care Act. CareSource was already a major provider of Medicaid plans in Ohio, which are growing as new federal funding supports expanded eligibility for the health coverage for low-income people.
CareSource is now also offering insurance plans through the federal Affordable Care Act marketplace, the subsidized health plans that just completed open enrollment. The Department of Health and Human Services reports more than 7 million people got enrolled between the disastrous October 1 rollout andthe end of open enrollment on March 31.
This initial success in enrollment numbers means growth for providers like CareSource, which has enrolled 30,000 new people through its Just 4Me ACA plan. CareSource says it will add 418 jobs this year in Ohio including nurses, case managers and IT people, with 253 of those jobs located in the Dayton area. According to spokeswoman Fran Robinson, the company’s growth has exceeded expectations.
After signing a lease April 1 with the Dayton-Montgomery County Port Authority, CareSource says contractors will work on 220 E. Monument for several months before some of its downtown employees move into the 2nd and 3rd floors. The company expects to eventually use all four floors with 400 people located in the building.
Nationally, the Congressional Budget Office expects the number of people who enroll in exchange plans to nearly double in 2015, which will help contribute to a burgeoning industry in the individual health insurance market.
Professor Martina Peng runs an insurance industry training program at Franklin University in Columbus.
She says growth in health care goes beyond just sales work.
“It’s not just selling insurance really, there is jobs in every field, accounting, marketing, finance, IT people, data analysis especially,” she says. “They need all kinds of talent.”
Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor has repeatedly spoken in recent months about how the overall insurance industry in Ohio is facing a potential workforce shortage as older employees retire.
