Ways a Small Company Can Save on Health Coverage
In today’s Small Business Link, Kelly Spors and I look at steps small companies can take to ease the burden of rising health-care costs — both for themselves and for employees. Of course, navigating these waters without a human-resources specialist schooled in the latest tips and tricks often isn’t easy.
Among the options: encouraging employees to call nurse hotlines, rather than visit the doctor, or subscribing to online wellness programs that can help reduce costs by keeping employees fit. Some small companies have overhauled their coverage completely, moving toward consumer-driven plans that set high deductibles but often give employees a chunk of money each year to use for needs that might arise.
Only 59% of companies with between three and 199 employees offered health benefits in 2007, according to health policy think-tank the Kaiser Family Foundation. That figure has trended downward since 2001, when 68% of small companies offered health benefits. It’s a stark contrast to businesses with 200 or more workers, 99% of which offered health benefits last year.
For business owners, what’s the best fix for rising health-care costs? Click on the letter to cast your vote:
Move toward a consumer-driven system shaped by market forces
Adopt a nationalized system with single-payer health care
Keep the current system the way it is
Something else
How is your company coping with rising health-care costs? What changes have you made?
Photo credit: Brooklyn Hilary via flickr
Having worked for a major national insurance company before, selling plans geared specifically toward small businesses, I can vouch for the growing trend toward HSAs and High-Deductible plans. Even when we didn’t offer them yet, we had business owners beating down our door for them! They’re fantastic when applied correctly, to already-healthy individuals who feel they only need the insurance for emergencies. Often, the amount in one’s HSA can usually cover the deductible, anyway.
Independent Street covers the aspirations, quirks and unique challenges and opportunity of entrepreneurship. The Journal's Gwendolyn (Wendy) Bounds, is the lead writer. After a decade at the Journal following fashion, media, retail and technology, Bounds became small-business editor and columnist in 2004. She also pens a home improvement column called "About the House." A native of North Carolina, Bounds is author of 
