Health insurance costs are a great challenge for many small business owners. Attracting and retaining employees is important to any business, and your health insurance plan is a key employee benefit. Larger employers have a built-in advantage: they can offer better benefit options at a lower employee cost. How can small business owners compete for top employees? Voluntary employee benefits offer a simple solution: offer a low-cost plan, and allow employees to create a plan suited to their unique needs.
Health insurance costs are determined by a number of factors: the census of your employee population, and they types of plans selected and offered to employees. For many small business owners it is difficult to change your employee census: you hired and trained key employees, and you can't swap out older more experienced workers just to save on insurance premiums. Which leaves a small business owner only one option to cut costs: change plan designs.
Low Cost Coverage Hurts Employees
Changing plan designs to cut premium costs has negative side effects of its own: employees are left in a tough situation when they get sick or hurt. Health insurance plans will be lower in cost when employees are asked to foot more of the bill in terms of: deductibles, co payments, co insurance, maximum out-of-pocket expenses, etc. The equation is quite simple: plans that cover less cost less. But is that good for your employees and your small business?
Most employees are not positioned to withstand the financial impact of low-cost health insurance programs. The majority of employees in the U.S. live check-to-check. They have little in savings and spend most of what they make. When they get sick or hurt they immediately begin to feel the pinch associated with higher deductibles, co payments, co insurance and other "risk sharing" elements introduced into medical insurance plans - all in the name of cutting back on premium costs. In addition, these higher costs are often combined with a loss in income - compounding the problem.
Need a New Way to Address Old Problem
Many small business owners are stuck in an old one size fits all mentality. The belief is that the owner can select a plan design that fits the needs of all employees. But employee family situations are all different. How could this possibly be the right answer? Or owners may try to put together a variety of plan designs only to find it impossibly complicated to communicate and administer.
Voluntary Employee Benefits Provides an Answer
Voluntary employee benefits provide a direct solution to these problems. They allow small business owners to offer a single low-cost, low-coverage medical insurance option to all employees. Supplemental insurance can be combined with this bare-bones option allowing employees with a greater security need to elect several programs to fill holes related to their needs. Trained benefits counselors can communicate the breadth of health insurance options now available, and document employee elections for compliance.
The biggest advantage is cost. Health insurance premiums are lower for all, and the supplemental insurance is paid for by the employees, generating payroll tax savings for the business. Trained benefit counselors work at no direct cost to the business. They get paid when employees enroll in the supplemental insurance options.
Health insurance costs are determined by a number of factors: the census of your employee population, and they types of plans selected and offered to employees. For many small business owners it is difficult to change your employee census: you hired and trained key employees, and you can't swap out older more experienced workers just to save on insurance premiums. Which leaves a small business owner only one option to cut costs: change plan designs.
Low Cost Coverage Hurts Employees
Changing plan designs to cut premium costs has negative side effects of its own: employees are left in a tough situation when they get sick or hurt. Health insurance plans will be lower in cost when employees are asked to foot more of the bill in terms of: deductibles, co payments, co insurance, maximum out-of-pocket expenses, etc. The equation is quite simple: plans that cover less cost less. But is that good for your employees and your small business?
Most employees are not positioned to withstand the financial impact of low-cost health insurance programs. The majority of employees in the U.S. live check-to-check. They have little in savings and spend most of what they make. When they get sick or hurt they immediately begin to feel the pinch associated with higher deductibles, co payments, co insurance and other "risk sharing" elements introduced into medical insurance plans - all in the name of cutting back on premium costs. In addition, these higher costs are often combined with a loss in income - compounding the problem.
Need a New Way to Address Old Problem
Many small business owners are stuck in an old one size fits all mentality. The belief is that the owner can select a plan design that fits the needs of all employees. But employee family situations are all different. How could this possibly be the right answer? Or owners may try to put together a variety of plan designs only to find it impossibly complicated to communicate and administer.
Voluntary Employee Benefits Provides an Answer
Voluntary employee benefits provide a direct solution to these problems. They allow small business owners to offer a single low-cost, low-coverage medical insurance option to all employees. Supplemental insurance can be combined with this bare-bones option allowing employees with a greater security need to elect several programs to fill holes related to their needs. Trained benefits counselors can communicate the breadth of health insurance options now available, and document employee elections for compliance.
The biggest advantage is cost. Health insurance premiums are lower for all, and the supplemental insurance is paid for by the employees, generating payroll tax savings for the business. Trained benefit counselors work at no direct cost to the business. They get paid when employees enroll in the supplemental insurance options.
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