The vast majority of full time workers (nearly 99%) have health insurance benefits of some kind. Most employers are required to offer health insurance benefits to their workers. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires businesses to cover all employees who work 30 hours or more and if their workforce has 50 of more people in it. All of this means that many small businesses around the country are looking to cut their costs. Small business employee benefits cost a ton of money.

4 Small Business Employee Benefits Cost Cutting Tips:

• Consider looking to SHOP Market. The Small Business Health Options (SHOP) program is for companies with 50 or fewer employees. There are plans available through this program only to smaller businesses. These plans are easier to customize to the needs and preferences of the workplace in question. Some companies will qualify for credits when they use SHOP to provide its employees with health insurance coverage. Some businesses can expect to get a rebate for up to half of what they pay for their staff’s coverage making this a great way for small business employee benefits cost cutting. They may have insurance options that you do not even know about. The SHOP exchange may help you find good small business employee benefits packages and lower your costs.
• Negotiate your premiums with your insurance provider. Some firms think that the rates they pay cannot be changed but that could not be farther from the truth. Many companies are actually in a much better position to work with their carriers and perhaps get a better rate for the premiums you pay. It does not hurt to ask and do not take the company’s reasons for upping your premiums laying down. They will counter with reasons the raised your rates, it is up to to challenge them. Have your benefits administration person be ready to negotiate with your carrier.
• Look into partnering with providers for some services. Some health care providers have contracts with companies to provide health care for their employees. Rather than go through an insurance carrier, employers pay a fee to the health care providers for unlimited visits to that provider. As this kind of plan does not cover all of the employees’ health care needs, this sort of system is often coupled with a high deductible plan to cover emergencies. This is a great way for small business employee benefits cost to be cut by between 12 and 15%. A number of primary care practices who are looking to save time and money by not billing insurance companies and Medicare are open to these arrangements with area companies. Even if a practice does not currently do this with anyone else, check and see if the practice you like would be willing to do this with your business.
• Look at individual plans. It is often hard to convince employees who are used to being covered by group health insurance plans but these might end up saving everyone money without sacrificing the quality of care. Because of the different plans offered under the ACA, it might be worth checking to see if your employees would do better getting their own plan. You can pay their staffs to get their own coverage through the marketplaces. They can then tailor their plans to their needs.  Do some research into what plans your employees would qualify for and see how they compare to what you can afford to offer. You might be surprised to see how receptive your workforce is to this.

The ability to hire and retain good staff is often dependent on the benefits you are able to offer your workforce. Keeping your employees healthy and happy is a good thing for your bottom line. With health care costs on the rise, the prospect of lowering your health insurance costs is very appealing. It can be a challenge, New laws, such as the ACA, do offer businesses more options and gives their staffs more choices for their health insurance coverage. It makes sense to spend some time researching your options to see how you can offer quality health insurance coverage while lowering your costs.