Tips for Saving Your Small Business Money on Employee Health Insurance Premiums

Health & Medical Blog

If you own a small business that is struggling financially to pay your employee's health insurance premiums as they keep rising each year, then you will be pleased to learn there are some alternatives you can explore to save some money. Here is a list of tips you can use to lower your employee health care costs this year: 

Tip: Negotiate Your Premium Prices

You may be surprised to learn that you can negotiate your company's health insurance premium price with your insurance company. To successfully do so, you need to work with an insurance broker rather than working with the customer service department of the insurance company. A broker will work for you to negotiate you a lower price in order to keep your business as a customer.

Tip: Increase Your Employee's Pay and Move Them to Private Insurance Policies

If you would like to get out of the health care business entirely, then you always have the option of offering your employees a large increase in salary with the understanding that they will be required to purchase a private insurance policy. If you choose to go this route, and many companies are doing so, then you need to ensure that you keep your pay rate competitive with other local businesses that are offering medical coverage. You must do so to retain your qualified employees.

Tip: Consider Offering a High-Deductible Health Insurance Plan Plus an HSA

Many companies are moving their employees to a high-deductible insurance policy with a health savings account (HSA). This combination allows your employees to have coverage for major medical problems and empowers them to shop around to receive lower cost care for basic medical issues. Money that is not spent on medical issues each year is kept in each employee's HSA account for following years and serves as an additional retirement account if not used for medical expenses.

Tip: Investigate Joining a Health Ministry or Health Coalition

Finally, your business has the option of joining a health coalition or health ministry to lower your employee health insurance costs. Coalitions and ministries are organizations that bundle together multiple small businesses into one larger group and then they either obtain cheaper insurance for the entire group or self-insure their members via their premiums. If your business is a religious organization, then you can try a health ministry. If you have a secular business, then you can investigate available health coalitions in your local area. Talk to a company like Employers Health Coalition for more information.

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17 January 2017

Help Others Make Health Decisions when They Cannot

One day I was playing a game of basketball with a friend, and the friend I was playing ball with tripped and took a hard fall to the ground. He hit his head hard, but he insisted he was okay and just wanted to go home and take a nap. I knew in my heart that he was not thinking clearly, and I didn't feel right letting him go home. I talked him into letting me take him to the hospital, and after some tests, it was determined he had a bad concussion. The doctors told me that if I had let him go home and sleep, things could have taken a turn for the worse. I created this blog to remind everyone to look out for each other after injuries. Not everyone thinks clearly after a head injury, and just being a good friend could save a life.