Higher Pay, Fewer Benefits.
More than half of small business employers spent up to 10 percent more on health insurance in 2007 than in 2006, and nearly 10 percent of employers surveyed say they’ll either drop or consider dropping coverage this year, according to the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations.
Employer-sponsored health insurance coverage rose 6.1 percent in 2007, far outpacing increases in wages, which rose 3.7 percent last year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Employer Health Benefits Survey.
Entrepreneurs take note. With the individual insurance market growing each year, you can opt to NOT offer your employees health care.
How?
The key is to accentuate the HIGHER salary your employees will gain from not offering health insurance. In short, pay them more money, but insist they purchase their own policy. Give them tools and resources to find their own policy. It’s a win-win situation. Your business will save money and your employees can purchase a policy that is portable. Once they purchase, its theirs for life – regardless of where they are employed.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:40 am
That is very interesting, but what about pre-existing conditions. Getting an individual plan, out side of a group plan, can be a bit costly and the benefits are usually not as good. Also if you are not with a companies group plan, they can deny you coverage based on your medical history. Are there better plans coming that will not discriminate against the individual who does not have the most perfect mdical history and that does not cost an arm and a leg?