One Size Does Not Fit All

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Not all employees have the same needs when it comes to health insurance. For example, a single 28 year old who never gets sick may be looking for benefits far different that a 50 year old with a spouse and two children; yet I find many employers who only offer their employees one benefit option. This either forces the 28 year to pay up for a more expensive benefit plan they don’t need or the 50 year old asking if they can pay more for a plan that would fit their needs better.

Often times, employers are not aware that they can offer two or three different plan options to allow their employees to select the plan and price point that best fits their needs. This is not burdensome administratively to employer, and it can be a win/win for both the employer and employees; this usually results in premium savings to the employer while allowing employees to pick the coverage that best matched their needs.

An experienced broker can help choose the best plan options to make available and explain them thoroughly to employees so they can make best decision for themselves.

When Less is More

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No one I know has ever been successful in asking the insurance company for their money back at the end of the year when their claims were less than the premium they paid……so here is why less can be more.

When you pay less for a shirt or for a steak there is good chance you get what you’ve paid for: a shirt that doesn’t fit quite as well or a steak with less flavor. But when it comes to your health insurance, paying less can be more of a benefit then you might think.

Paying less in premium simply means you are willing to absorb more of the cost of your medical expenses if and when you incur them. This is usually through a higher deductible, office visit copay, or coinsurance. Since the old rule of thumb says that only 20% of an insured population is responsible 80% of medical expenses, chances are your claim expense in any given year will be less than the premium you paid. Yet so many are willing to continue to pay the higher premium “just in case”.

The question to ask is; are you comfortable pre-paying the insurance company a few thousand dollars a year for the “what if”. Why pay thousands more for insurance  when you can take the premium savings from a lower cost plan and pay it to yourself  on a pre-tax basis through a Health Savings Account (HSA) ? Instead of giving the money to the insurance company this lets you keep it and only spend it if you need to.

Yes, Less Can be More!

 

“I’ll Just Keep What We’ve Got”

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I sometimes hear this from small business owners — “I’ll just keep what I’ve got”– because they’ve been lead to believe that in the Small Employer market (businesses less than 50 employees), there are no new options for them to consider, they’ll just keep what they’ve got.

While it is true that the choice of plans narrowed in the wake of the Affordable Care Act passed in 2009, there have been sprouts of new ideas and different plan options for employees to begin to consider in the small group market.

Working with a broker keeping current on new developments in the marketplace is vital in making sure you are not missing out on an opportunity to provide the best and most affordable plans to your employees. Sometimes “just keeping what you’ve got” may ultimately be best, but you owe it to yourself and your employees to explore all options before you renew your benefits for the next plan year.