Category: Group Health Insurance

When the first of next year (2016) rolls around, your business could be in hot water if you don’t offer health coverage to your employees. If you have 49 or fewer workers, you’re in the clear, but for all of you with 50 or more workers, health coverage will be mandated, and if you fail to provide it, you’ll have to pay a penalty. As expected, the growing demand for specialty drugs and specialty pharmacies are making health care rates rise on a yearly basis, and in 2016, there could be double digit increases in premiums. Still yet, though, with 50 or more employees, you must offer them coverage.  Here’s a close look at the top reasons you need to provide your workers with health insurance.

It’s the Law

As stated above, in 2016, it will be required by law that you offer health coverage to all full-time employees. For each worker that you don’t provide coverage for, you’ll pay an individual penalty, which quickly adds up the more employees that you have. However, for employers with 50 or more employees the first 30 are exempted from the penalty.

You can Attract Top Talent

By offering your workers health coverage, you’re more likely to recruit some of today’s best employees. They can boost your company’s success, and because you offer insurance, they are more likely to stay with your company for many years.

Major Tax Advantages

All premiums that you pay for workers are completely tax deductible; this allows you to provide your workers with a great benefits package that costs less money out of your pocket than what the package is valued at. With an incorporated business, your employee’s insurance premiums can be deducted pre-tax, as well.

Enhances Productivity

When your employees don’t receive the proper healthcare that they need, you’ll notice an increase in absenteeism and lower levels of productivity. With health insurance, however, the well being of your employees will be enhanced as well as their productivity levels.

 

Are You Providing Coverage to Your Workers?

Whether you employ two workers or 2,000, there are many benefits to be gained from providing them health coverage. And while you’ve probably been scrambling around this past year to get coverage set up, you may be behind on deploying the new insurance offerings. Fortunately, though, here at Bernardini & Donovan, we specialize in employer-provided health insurance plans. We can answer any questions you may have about various coverage plans, and more importantly, we can make sure that your company is in full compliance with the law come January 1, 2016.

Modern employees are extremely savvy about the bonuses that come with a job. Gone are the days when salary used to be the major competing factor in attracting new talent —  now everything is about healthcare, child care, continued education, retirement accounts and other related perks. This is a great thing for both employees and employers. For employees, they can acquire more value than they could in a straight cash salary. For employers, companies can take advantage of a variety of tax incentives and breaks to provide these bonuses and to remain competitive.

Vision, Dental and Prescription Services

Though they may be optional, offering vision, dental and prescription services isn’t expensive and will go a long way towards showing employees that your business is concerned with their health. There’s also another benefit — providing vision, dental and prescription service makes it less likely that employees will go without care, damaging both their own health and their productivity. Mental health services and substance abuse services offer similar benefits.

Flexible Spending Accounts

Both health care flexible spending accounts and dependent care flexible spending accounts are extremely important perks for modern businesses. Employees will be able to set aside money in a tax-advantaged account, much like an IRA, to be used on both their own medical expenses and their child’s or other dependents. Many executive employees and other financially savvy employees specifically look for the flexible spending account option, as it makes more sense to them and will result in more money being acquired by them overall, as they can save tax-advantaged funds towards their medical costs.

Employee Health Programs

In addition to health insurance, employers can create health programs that promote health to their employees. Many employees specifically look for these programs when they are learning about a job opportunity. Employee health programs can include everything from healthy provided snacks to an on-site gym, depending on your company’s budget.

Employers can look to their health insurance agency to find out more about what they can do to attract the best up-and-coming talent to their business. Having solid, comprehensive health care options are not.