Employee Health Insurance - - Finding the Balance Between the Extent of Coverage and What an Employer Pays

No one can deny that the Affordable Care Act has sparked national debate over the nation's health care system. The success of this new law remains to be seen, and the debate will continue. Critics of the Affordable Care Act fear that it means the end of employer-sponsored health insurance.

These critics cited companies like Home Depot and Trader Joe's who will no longer offer part-time employees with health insurance benefits. Consider that if a company doesn't offer any type of health insurance to its employees, then by all rights, the executives and business owners aren't covered under a company either. The cost of a group plan is always going to be cheaper than an individual one.

Mandate for Businesses

Beginning in 2015, employers must comply with the requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The simplest and most beneficial thing for employers is to offer employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. If businesses don't cover their employees, they'll have to pay a penalty if employees premium tax credits to buy their own coverage through state exchanges.

Attract and Keep Most Qualified Employees

Health care is something people need. People who look for jobs are drawn to companies that offer benefits, especially in the form of health insurance. Since it's so important to an employee's financial, physical and mental health, employers that DO offer health insurance benefits will attract better, more qualified, loyal and committed employees than their competitors.

Employer vs. Employee Benefits

Ellen O'Brien of Georgetown University wrote an essay for the Millbank Quarterly in 2003 suggested that employees would accept a smaller salary in return for employer-sponsored health insurance. Health insurance gives people a safety net, the assurance that hopefully, should anything happen, they'd be protected enough to avoid financial ruin. That security gives employees real motivation to stay with a company.

Small Businesses are eligible the or Small Business Health Care Tax Credit , something that should give small businesses with 25 or fewer employees, an incentive to cover their employees. . There are other ways small businesses can offer health insurance to their employees like the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP).

Even setting up a group pool for your business to allow your employees (and don't forget yourself and your family,) to buy health insurance at cheaper group rates.

Healthy employees are happier and more productive. Companies that spend the money to offer employees a health insurance benefits package – regardless of the form it takes, will get more work out of their workers over the long term than they would from employees who didn't get benefits.

Besides keeping employees healthy, companies that extend coverage to families still benefit from increased productivity because workers are less likely to take time off for family illnesses.

Call us today to learn more!

Need insurance for You, Your Family or Your Business?
We can match you to a qualified, local insurance expert!
Further Reading
Your business insurance value has no relation to your policy premium or your policy premiums, the value of your insurance portfolio related directly to the risks you insure against. If you are not an insurance expert, it is important for you to meet ...
Businesses nationwide are preparing for the financial impact of paying for their employees' Health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which takes effect January 1, 2014. The mandate will apply to any company with 50 or more full-time (or...
Just as one might use a CPA to prepare their income taxes or an attorney to help them with their estate planning, many choose to use an insurance agency to write their insurance policies. This choice is mainly made because a person feels they need pr...
When shopping for life insurance, you might be confused by all the options. Which ones earn cash? Which ones build cash value? What's the best option for you? Learn more about the differences between the four main types of life insurance as you ma...
Is employer-provided health insurance a perk of your job? Discover top trends for 2015 that can affect your workplace coverage.   1. Employee-sponsored health benefits cost more   The average cost of health insurance per worker is ris...