How to Offer Healthy Insurance to Employees
Employers can offer health insurance to their workers through their employer. In order to attract and retain employees, the benefits of offering health insurance should be marketed properly. Here are some tips to help you get started. Start by educating employees about different types of insurance plans and their pricing. Once they understand their options, employees should submit their application to their carrier. Submitting the application early will allow the carrier to complete underwriting, setup plans with their carriers, and create ID cards for each employee.
Employer-sponsored health insurance
Approximately 67% of state and local government employees are enrolled in employer-sponsored health insurance. The enrollment rates varied by census division and compared employers in private-sector and public-sector industries. The average single-coverage premium was $5,917, with an employee contribution of $612 per enrollee. The South Atlantic census division had lower rates, at $5,614.
In 2008, employer-sponsored health insurance covered 54 percent of private-sector employees and 66% of state and local government workers. Despite the complexity of this market, many small businesses are opting to offer health coverage for their employees. The average tenure of a small-business worker is 18 months. Employees may be leaving the company that offers them health insurance coverage, and changing jobs may mean losing their family doctor or their insurance.
Flexible care plans
A health-care flexible spending account allows employees to contribute pre-tax amounts toward medical bills each year. The funds can be used for eligible dental, vision, hearing, and surgery expenses. They can also purchase compression garments. However, they don’t cover elective cosmetic procedures. Employers should consider the cost of this type of plan before selecting one for their employees. However, the costs associated with it may outweigh the savings you can generate for your company.
Despite the benefits that flexible care plans can provide, only eligible employees can participate. To offer a health FSA, employers must offer an ACA-compliant group health insurance plan. For example, XYZ Co. offers the health FSA to its full-time employees. Part-time employees, however, are not eligible for the major medical plan. In order to make the plan available to part-time employees, the company must change the plan document.
High deductibles
A study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that employees who participate in a health plan with a high deductible are more likely to consider the quality of care and costs before they seek care. The study also found that high-deductible plans were more likely to make participants demand more quality care and avoid unnecessary care. In fact, the study found that higher deductible plans result in lower costs and increased consumer choice among health care providers.
HDHPs have a high deductible, which can be a significant financial burden for employees with chronic health conditions. An annual deductible for an HDHP ranges from $1,400 for an individual to $7,050 for a family. Because high deductibles can be high, employees should plan on covering the costs up to the deductible. To make this payment more affordable, employers can work with healthcare providers to reduce the cost or structure a payment plan that helps the employee afford the deductible.
Low premiums
If you’re a business owner and you want to keep employees, offering low premiums for health insurance is a great way to retain them. Rising healthcare costs are a common concern for businesses, but there are some ways to keep premiums under control. Streamlining the administration process and adopting best practices can help you keep costs under control while still providing high-quality care to your employees. By following a few simple guidelines, you can lower premiums without sacrificing quality.
Insurers base their premiums on the health status of each employee, which varies depending on age and tobacco use. Premiums will be lower for a smaller company if its employees are younger, healthier, and without chronic conditions. For this reason, smart businesses hire healthy young adults with a low health-related risk. Moreover, the more employees a business has, the lower its premiums will be.
The cost of group health insurance
The cost of group health insurance for employees is increasing at an alarming pace. In 2010, the average family had a $21,342 annual premium, and employers paid 74 percent of the cost, leaving employees with only 26 percent. In addition, health insurance premiums are rising faster than wages and inflation. The average family premium could go up more than eight thousand dollars by 2022. That’s not all, however. Employers can also reimburse employees for premiums.
The cost of group health insurance for employees is driven by the overall cost of healthcare services. Premiums vary depending on the amount of medical care each employee needs, the number of claims, and the cost of those claims. Higher premiums may be associated with employees with more complex medical problems or frequent physician visits. Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) tend to cut total monthly premiums by about 20% and are better at cost containment than PPOs. PPOs can be flexible and offer more benefits but lack cost containment.