Although healthcare costs continue to rise, you do have options when it comes to your small business healthcare costs. Before you begin to eliminate healthcare benefits for your employees, consider the following options:
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Offer a high-deductible business healthcare plan that works with a health savings account.
Employers often find that high-deductible business healthcare plans keeps employee spending in check; the addition of a health savings account allows the employees to save some of their pretax money to cover deductible costs.
Health savings accounts, some of which are funded by employers and some of which are funded by employees, are often paired with a high-deductible business healthcare plan to offset some of the costs of high-deductible health plans. Some employers set aside a determined amount of money to cover out-of-pocket expenses, up to a certain amount.
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Consider the power of a purchasing cooperative.
Many small companies work together so that they have more purchasing – and bargaining – power with health insurers. Called health insurance purchasing cooperatives, these types of plans allow a number of small businesses to vie for better insurance rates than they would on the open market. This also allows many companies to qualify for benefits, such as dental insurance, that they wouldn’t be eligible for under any other circumstance.
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Invite your employees to join in on a company wellness program.
From free gym memberships to healthful lunches in the cafeteria, many businesses are looking for ways to improve the health of their employees, which may translate into lower business healthcare costs. These programs are cropping up all across the country as businesses look for ways to encourage their employees to live healthier and adopt an awareness of better health.
It is important to instill a greater send of health awareness to your employees so that you can all work together to control business healthcare costs.
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Consider health screenings and preventative care for common diseases.
Disease management may include educating your employees on common diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, and offering them health screenings and preventative care. This is often done to prevent extended hospital stays and major small business healthcare costs for the employer should an employee not prevent or maintain a certain illness. Many companies work through doctors and nurses to educate their employees and show them ways to better manage and treat a number of chronic illnesses.
You may want to consider bringing small business healthcare services to your employees, such as smoking cessation programs and cholesterol screenings, for example.
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Consider starting a nurse hot line.
Many employers find that their soaring business healthcare costs are often related to unnecessary trips to the emergency room or urgent care facility. An on-call nurse who can act as a liaison for the employees and provide them with answers to their questions and concerns. Many nurse hot line programs are offered through the company’s small business healthcare insurer or benefits administrator. There are also businesses that offer their employees a nurse hot line directly through the company.
With one of these strategies, you can continue to offer healthcare benefits for your small business’ employees.
