How to Achieve Flexible Benefits at Your Small Business
By: Jordan Jolley (Zane Benefits) December 2014
In a time when health benefit costs can be almost unimaginable, your small business faces a difficult decision: keep your current group health insurance plan, or offer nothing at all. The truth is, not offering health benefits to your employees hurts your small business in the long run. So what’s the solution? Offer flexible benefits – here’s how.
Why Flexible Benefits are Important
You may be wondering, “what are flexible benefits and why would they be important to my small business?” Flexible benefits are health benefits that accommodate your entire workforce. Rather than a one-size-fits-all plan, they allow employees to customize health benefits to their unique lifestyle and needs.
Think of it this way: your small business may only have 15 employees, but some of them may be Baby Boomers and others are from Generation Y. Each generation has different needs and values. If you offer the same health benefits plan to all of them, it may not accommodate their specific needs. For this very reason, flexible benefits allow you, as an employer, to offer something for everyone at an affordable price.
The Old Way
Flexible benefits weren’t always readily available and things have changed a lot over time in the healthcare industry. At one time, businesses were able to offer a group health insurance at an affordable price. It was the way that individuals got health insurance. However, things have changed. For example, from 1999 to 2014, employer-sponsored health benefits increased by 174% for a total annual single premium. In dollar amounts, what was $183/month in 1999 increased to $502/month by 2014.
These increases were far from affordable to individuals and small businesses that needed good, quality healthcare. Additionally, group health insurance offered little to no room for flexibility- employees were left with a one-size-fits-all plan. However, as group health insurance prices continued to increase, solutions were beginning to surface: individual health insurance reimbursement.
The New Way
Nowadays, there is a better option to achieve flexible health benefits for your employees – individual health insurance reimbursement. Though group health insurance premiums continue to remain unaffordable at an average of $502/month for a total annual single premium, individual health insurance averages $82/month after premium tax credits
Now you must be wondering, “what is individual health insurance reimbursement?” Individual health reimbursement is exactly what it sounds like. Your employees go to the state’s Health Insurance Marketplace and purchase a plan (just like car insurance). You reimburse employees for their monthly premium costs up to an amount that you specify (e.g. $150/month).
Offering individual health insurance reimbursement to your employees is the ultimate way to achieve flexible benefits for your small business. Doing so allows all demographics of your business to choose a plan that fits them best and is affordable, too. Also, offering flexible benefits is a great resource to retain and recruit top talent for your small business.
Categories
- Benefits Resources
- Bonding
- BOP
- Business Insurance
- Commercial Auto
- Commercial Property
- Company News
- Construction
- Crime Insurance
- Cyber Insurance
- Directors & Officers
- Employee Benefits
- Employment Practice Liability Insurance
- Entertainment
- General Liability
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare
- Healthcare Reform
- Homeowners Insurance
- Hospitality
- Manufacturing
- Medical Malpractice
- Mining & Energy
- Nightclubs
- Personal Auto
- Personal Insurance
- Professional
- Restaurants
- Retail & Wholesale
- Risk Management Resources
- Safety Topics
- SBA Bonds
- Security
- Seminars
- Technology
- Tourism
- Transportation
- Uncategorized
- Workers Compensation
Archives
- May 2021
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- November 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- February 2013
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- March 2011
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- April 2010
- February 2010
- November 2009
- October 2009
- November 2008
- August 2008