Top 10 Healthcare Planning Considerations For Small Business

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

C. Everett Koop and Hillary Rodham Clinton promoting universal health insurance (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Structure of your health plan: The traditional structure of health plans are a thing of the past, and in order to remain competitive, businesses must embrace new plan structures and products in the market place (H.S.A plans, cost sharing plans, consumer driven plans)
Understand the penalties of the law and how they will impact your business – Make sure you are complying with all of the provisions of the PPAHCA. Specific provisions to make note of are the individual mandate, essential health benefit package requirement, and employer penalties.

Engage Employees – Employees should be apart of the health insurance process and their feedback should help determine the plans you put in place. If your employees are not interested in participating in a health plan due to cost, use that information to put a plan in place that will align coverage and cost and with the their budgets and goals.

Apply for Available Tax Credits – In the PPAHCA there are many tax credits that are available to small business to help pay for the health plans. Tax credits range from 25% – 50% of health plan costs by 2016.

Make sure you and your employees understand how your plan works – There are a number of different players involved in the health insurance market. Understand what your plan covers, and how it works. Employees should reach out to their carrier’s member services and use them as a resource to make sure that plans and claims are handled correctly. This will be taken into consideration at renewal and can help keep costs down over the long term.

Find a benefits partner – Look for a benefits broker that can help you lay out a long term goal for your employee benefits program. With healthcare costs rising over the long term, make sure you are working with someone who not only has product knowledge but the expertise to place plans that will help with costs down the road. Also, look for partners that not only save on cost, but also administration through multi-product offerings.

Institute Wellness Plans – Studies show that instituting wellness plans not only put employees on the right track towards meting health related goals, and help achieve healthier behavior, but as an added bonus, they build on camaraderie and teamwork in the office. This can lead to increased productivity, healthier employees, and lower health insurance premiums down the road.

Understand the importance of a health plan – Healthcare plans should not only be seen as an expense, but also seen as an important management tool. Health plans should also be geared to increase productivity, minimize absenteeism (which hurts sales) and improve office morale. When employees feel good, they work better, and the less time that they are out of the office due to illness, the more profitable the company will be.

Cost Sharing – Employees need to be able to share in the cost when it comes to health care plans. Seeing as it is their coverage, their health, and your money on the line, cost sharing techniques will reinforce the importance of living healthierand managing the costs. By sharing a portion of the costs, employees will understand the importance of reducing costs and see where their behaviors will affect the overall cost of their health insurance.

Market your plans, Do Not Settle – Do not be afraid of marketing your health insurance plans at renewal with other carriers. Take your time to review the plan and pricing options that are available, and speak with other carriers about that they will do to help you lower your overall healthcare costs. Many businesses do not look at options fearing change, and unsure of what to do.