Who out there offers health insurance for your employees? And do you think that it really helps to keep turn over low?
We have had our group plan for about the last 10 years and just like everything else it just keeps climbing. It is at the point now where my portion (50% of the employees premium) is now costing me over 20K per year. I personally and many of my employees can get their own personal policies much cheaper than what we are paying now.
In addition we have to carry special Employer Benefits insurance to cover us in case I screw up on someones forms, applications, and so forth. The administration of the group is becoming a pain in the rear and I would just rather pay my employees (managers) more and let them get their own policies if they want.
Having a little trouble making up my mind on which way to go.
Assuming that you live in the US, there’s a law that requires the group insurance company to offer the same insurance to the employees, at the same cost, in the event that the employer cancels the group policy. It’s related to COBRA, I think it’s called HIPAA. Obviously, most of your employees could probably get it cheaper themselves, but this is a great option if you have any employees that are uninsurable.
/Russ
Cobra only applies only in the event the employee is involuntarily terminated. Cobra is a way for the terminated employee to piggyback onto the group after they are terminated. If the group plan is terminated there is no Cobra or anything of the sorts. HIPPA allows an employee who loses coverage regardless of why, to have pre-existing conditions exempted when they obtain new coverage within 62 days of the old coverage ending.