Health Insurance for Small Businesses: Ways to Cut Costs
Posted Sep 29 2011 10:59am
The cost of covering employees’ health insurance continues to rise and no one is feeling this more than small businesses. Many smaller businesses have completely eliminated any benefits programs for their staff because the costs are just too high and they keep increasing. Even though the rate of the increases is slowing down, it’s still doing a number on the small businesses who have chosen to keep health insurance benefits for their employees. Many small businesses blame the health care overhaul for some of the extreme costs and the small-business group the National Federation of Independent Business along with 26 states recently petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the law from going through because they believe it’s unconstitutional.
The article “Four Ways to Cut Small Employer Health-Care Costs” by Diana Ransom on Entrepreneur.com details some of the top actions small businesses can take to keep costs down when it comes to health insurance benefits. The first recommendation is to keep employees healthy. By offering wellness programs and discounted gym memberships, employees may visit the doctor less and will help reduce costs over time. The next tip is to ask employees to help cut claims costs by comparison shopping when it comes to expensive procedures. Employees who feel taken care of by their employee will have a vested interest in helping to keep costs down.
The next recommendation involves spouses. By encouraging spouses to take advantage of their own health insurance benefits plans, employers can save money on family plans. The last topic isn’t always popular with employees, but by switching to a higher deductible plan, premiums will be lower. This may be a good compromise to ensure overall costs are kept down and more responsibility is placed on the employee without totally taking away their benefits completely and forcing them to find their own major medical insurance quotes .
The cost of covering employees’ health insurance continues to rise and no one is feeling this more than small businesses. Many smaller businesses have completely eliminated any benefits programs for their staff because the costs are just too high and they keep increasing. Even though the rate of the increases is slowing down, it’s still doing a number on the small businesses who have chosen to keep health insurance benefits for their employees. Many small businesses blame the health care overhaul for some of the extreme costs and the small-business group the National Federation of Independent Business along with 26 states recently petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the law from going through because they believe it’s unconstitutional.
The article “Four Ways to Cut Small Employer Health-Care Costs” by Diana Ransom on Entrepreneur.com details some of the top actions small businesses can take to keep costs down when it comes to health insurance benefits. The first recommendation is to keep employees healthy. By offering wellness programs and discounted gym memberships, employees may visit the doctor less and will help reduce costs over time. The next tip is to ask employees to help cut claims costs by comparison shopping when it comes to expensive procedures. Employees who feel taken care of by their employee will have a vested interest in helping to keep costs down.
The next recommendation involves spouses. By encouraging spouses to take advantage of their own health insurance benefits plans, employers can save money on family plans. The last topic isn’t always popular with employees, but by switching to a higher deductible plan, premiums will be lower. This may be a good compromise to ensure overall costs are kept down and more responsibility is placed on the employee without totally taking away their benefits completely and forcing them to find their own major medical insurance quotes .
Written by Sam Tabes
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/smartshopper78