2020 was a pretty challenging year for many people and businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic put daily life and work practices into upheaval, and everyone has been adapting ever since. We’re very fortunate that modern medical science has already found a vaccine, and normalcy will shortly return.
However, the pandemic and its effect on life and work have shown just how important health is, not just at an individual level, but for an entire workforce. More people than ever worried about staying healthy or, once ill, handling the finances of medical treatment. It’s one reason why health coverage is at the top of the employee benefits checklist. But if you’re a business, what’s the best way to offer this?
Beyond Legal Obligations
Health insurance coverage is something that most companies beyond a specific size are required to provide. For example, suppose you have more than 50 employees. In that case, your company will pay penalties if it fails to offer health insurance coverage to full and part-time employees.
Even more for small companies that aren’t legally required to provide health insurance, it can still make a big difference. Health benefits are attractive to employees, meaning that companies that offer them will attract more applicants. They will also attract a higher quality of applicants and have a better chance of retaining employees than frequently needing to find replacements after resignations.
There are a few ways for smaller businesses to offer health insurance even if they don’t have the financial resources of a larger company these are:
Health Maintenance Organizations
An HMO is a loose alliance of health providers that have teamed up with an insurer for co-payment options. This means that companies that partner with these HMOs must have employees pick a provider within this HMO network.
As long as a valid HMO provider is visited, the insurance company will act as a partner in co-payments for medical exams, treatment, and other associated expenses.
High Deductible Health Plans
In insurance, one of the most effective ways to reduce the premiums that need to be paid every month is by having the policyholders agree to pay a higher deductible. In other words, in exchange for paying a lower amount in monthly premiums, policyholders agree to pay a higher amount upfront for medical treatment before the insurance company steps in to cover the rest of the costs.
This can be an especially effective form of health coverage provided for companies that have younger employees. Younger staff are less likely to require medical coverage regularly. They thus are less at risk of having to pay these higher deductibles.
Self-Insurance
A final solution is for companies to look into Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) to deal with coverage. These plans involve the company itself being directly responsible for funding insurance, but they have mechanisms to control spending.
If you have a business and you’d like to know more, we can help. Contact National Insurance Partners Inc. We can look at your business and find the right health plan for you.