Healthy solutions: healthy employees equal a healthy bottom line.
Author | Kennedy, Linda T. |
Position | PLANNING GUIDE |
Couple the demands of starting a new business with rising health care costs and it's tempting to disregard health benefits for your small workforce. But according to a Healthcare Leadership Council guide to health insurance options for small businesses, offering health insurance helps attract and retain high-quality employees. Also, the health insurance premiums your company pays are fully tax-deductible and are non-taxable income for your employees. But the bottom line on health insurance meets up with your bottom line: better health increases worker productivity and enhances a company's performance.
Most small business owners shop for employee health insurance through agents and brokers according to a National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Research Foundation poll. The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) suggests asking family, friends or trusted business acquaintances for agent, recommendations, but you can also locate an agent through a professional organization such as the Association of Health Insurance Advisors (AHIA) at www.ahia.net, the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) at www.nahu.org or the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA) at www.independentagent.com.
While 24 percent of small business owners go online to shop for insurance, keep in mind the limitations of the Web. Unless the online entities you choose have superior telephone or chat-enabled customer service support, you may be left with many unanswered questions. Also, not every Website will feature all the health insurance offerings that may be available in Utah, and the state only allows certain types of policies to be sold online.
You should also be aware of alternatives to traditional insurance options, such as health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) These options allow employees and/or employers to set aside pre-tax income to cover medical expenses. For more information, go to www.cahi.org, click consumer info, then HSAs.
KEEP THEM WELL
There are also things you can do to help your employees stay healthy and working. During October through December, Community Nursing Sendees travels to any size of business for onsite workplace flu clinics. For those with 25 or more employees, there's no charge for the...
To continue reading
Request your trialCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.