Thinking about providing health insurance to your employees? Here are 9 questions to answer first.

1. Health
Insurance
For Business
(9 Questions To Ask)

2. Before you begin shopping for health
insurance, you should have a firm
understanding of what you and your
employees are looking for from
health insurance.

3. Here are the
questions you
want to answer:

4. If your employees are already getting
health insurance through their spouse,
then they may not value health
insurance benefits. Many group plans
also require that the majority of your
employees participate in the plan. If a
large number of your employees opt
out because they are covered by a
spouse, group health insurance may
not be an option.
Would your employees view health
benefits as valuable?1)

5. According to kff.org’s most recent data (2013) the average cost per
enrolled employee for group health coverage is $5884 per year.
However, most businesses share the cost of healthcare with their
employees. On average, the employer picks up 80% of the premium
costs, and the employee the remaining 20%.
How much can you and your employees
afford to pay each month for premiums?2)

6. This is also why we recommend exploring increasing
compensation and offering a cafeteria plan instead of offering
a group plan. You can learn more about this here.
How much can you and your employees
afford to pay each month for premiums?2)

7. Before offering a group health plan,
make sure that you are not cutting off
the subsidy option for employees that
want it. Your employees can use the
calculator below to determine whether or
not they are eligible for subsidies.
How many of my
employees qualify
for a subsidy?
3)

8. Allowing employees to choose for themselves gives them greater
flexibility and generally costs less on average than offering group health
insurance. This is why we recommend all employers consider offering
increased compensation along with a cafeteria plan, instead of offering
group health insurance. You can learn more about this here.
Do I want to offer a specific plan to my
employees, or let them choose for themselves?4)

9. Higher pay, increased 401k
contributions, life insurance,
wellness program, gas stipend,
and catered lunches are all
examples of things that some
employees may appreciate
more than health benefits.
Would my employees appreciate a
different benefit?5)

10. • To have a high deductible plan with low monthly premiums?
• Or a plan with higher monthly premiums but lower
deductible?
6)Would you and your
employees prefer:

11. Is to offer a high deductible health plan. This
means that your employees pay the first x
number of dollars (generally between $1000
and $2000) in health care costs directly.
One way to significantly
reduce health insurance cost

12. According to a recent Kff.org
report 49% of employees with
health insurance that work for a
firm with 3-99 employees had a
deductable of more than $1000.
This is a popular option
among small businesses.

13. If your employees cannot afford to pay the out of pocket costs associated
with their health care, then this defeats the purpose of offering health
insurance.
In scenarios where you or your employees have a
large medical bill, what is the maximum amount that
they can afford to pay out-of-pocket?7)

14. If you have employees that need to visit the doctor on a regular basis
for a chronic condition, you want to make sure that they are going to be
able to afford the out of pocket costs they will be responsible for under
different scenarios.
How often do you and your employees plan
on going for Doctor's visits?8)

15. If so then you will want to make sure that the doctor/healthcare provider is
covered under the health benefits you decide to offer. If not, would you and
your employees switch doctors if it meant saving money by switching to a
different plan that their current Doctor/healthcare provider doesn’t accept?
Does a significant portion of your company currently
have the same Doctor/health care provider?9)

16. Does a significant portion of your company currently
have the same Doctor/health care provider?
If so then you will want to make sure that the doctor/healthcare provider
is covered under the health benefits you decide to offer. If not, would
you and your employees switch doctors if it meant saving money by
switching to a different plan that their current Doctor/healthcare
provider doesn’t accept?
9)

17. The answers to the above questions will arm you
with the information you need to choose the right
benefits plan for your company’s unique situation.

18. Click here to tweet
this presentation.
Join The Community:
www.FitSmallBusiness.com
See the full article here