Why Should I Offer Health Benefits?

Whether you are a new business or have been at it for a very long time, employee benefit packages play a very important role in employee morale and incentives. You might be asking yourself if it is really worth it to offer health care benefits if the government is going to take over the health care business.

Don’t wait for the Supreme Court to make the decision for you. Employees consider health care coverage one of the most important of the benefits they want from a potential employer. How you approach this crucial benefit will affect not only your bottom line, but it will also impact how your employees view your business as a desirable workplace.

What Benefits to Offer

Offering the traditional health insurance will give your employees the most choices. They can see whatever doctor they wish or go to any hospital. But, this can be a more expensive choice than managed care forms of insurance because of co-pays or other fees.

Look at plans that include mental health care, maternity coverage, dental or vision care also. Consider allowing your employees to contribute to health savings accounts. Remember that some options allow employees to use pre-tax dollars to pay for medications and co-pays. Some companies pass on more of the cost to their employees in the form of shared premiums. How you present health coverage is up to you and depends on your budget.

Should I Use a Broker?

Brokers can put together packages that place your smaller company in a larger insurance pool. As a result, this could significantly reduce costs to you and to your employees. However, don’t forget to do a little research first to make sure that you have opted to partner with a broker that is reputable.

A good broker should provide you with bids from a number of insurers with a variety of plans to choose from, and, if they don’t, it means you have not found the right partner yet.

Maximizing Savings

Providing health insurance to your employees is a significant expense so you want to be sure that you maximize savings to your company. You can do this in a number of ways:

·         Include as many of your employees as possible or all of them if you can.

·         Terminate policies for employees that no longer work for you. They may be able to purchase a continuation policy that shifts the cost to the employee entirely and retain their coverage.

·         Consider wellness incentives. Offer healthier choices in vending machines or the company cafeteria. Volunteer to pay a portion of a gym membership or bring in a massage therapist to help those who are stuck behind a desk all day alleviate their neck and back strain.

The health of your employees is important. Time lost to illness can be a big expense for a business of any size but especially a small business. Do your homework and find the most cost effective policy for your company then go ahead and offer your employees this important benefit.