I want to get health insurance for my employees

I have 3 employees and none of them have coverage 2 of them are drowning in medical bills, one owes more than 100 grand and the other owes 60 grand. This is crazy these are normal healthy people who are not even 30 years old. Anyway what do you guys do for coverage for your employees. Do you pay all of it or half of it or do they sign up on the healthcare website. I pay them enough that they are not eligible for subsidies I think. They are all single. I may look into a group plan or just buy individual policies for them.

You might want to rethink this plan. Your premiums are going to be insanely high if they are running up those kind of bills and they are in their twenties. What is wrong with these people? Between the ages 16 and 40 I don't think I ever went to the doctor, not even once.

Good luck finding something affordable, that's just one of the many reasons I don't want any employees.

I asked a few times about this. I only had four employees at the time. Not enough for a group discount. One guy was over fifty and the others thirty and under. If I went to group the over fifty guy would have raised everyones rate. Our agent said it would be cheaper for individual policys. The older guys wife is a mail delevery person and he had good insurance through her plan. If we had a group policy he would have been forced to leave her policy and go with ours. He didn't like that one bit.

At the time I had a 5k deductable policy for around a hundred dollars a month. I loved that policy. Not sure it's legal anymore.

Of all the hoops you have to jump through to have legitimate employees health care insurance is the biggest pita.

Good luck!

There is no easy answer on healthcare.

true temper said:

Good luck finding something affordable, that's just one of the many reasons I don't want any employees.

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ACA is not affordable, the insurance companies won that game. The politicians caved in . It is ridiculous that we spend 18% of GDP on health care. All other developed countries spend around 10-12%. But who is willing to stand up to an industry that handles over 2 trillion a year?

dee
;-D

Kevin, there are four of us here at my shop full time all with health insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield. The annual deductible is 3K, but in our state the most an employee is allowed to have to pay is 2K, so I am responsible as an employer to cover that last 1K if necessary.

I have employees ranging from mid 20's to mid 50's. My premium is approx. $1,700/month which comes out to $425/employee which we pay in full as a company benefit.

There are lots of plans out there with varying degrees of coverage.


Do yourself a HUGE favor, and find a health insurance agent to work with you in securing the best coverage for your needs without having to decipher through pages of incomprehensible coverage plans and deductibles.
That's how we did it, and it was a done deal in a matter of a couple of days.

Best Regards,
Russ

In Spain, a private plan costs about 2k per year for 2 adults and 1 child.
Dental, medical, no deductible, no co-pay.
So about 83€ per adult, per month.

And its a for profit billion € company selling them, profitably (alliance).
Thats the * real* cost of healthcare.

Everything else is just us HMO profits and drag (I think us style insurance and liability scams re: legal issues raise the costs).

wrustle said:

Kevin, there are four of us here at my shop full time all with health insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield. The annual deductible is 3K, but in our state the most an employee is allowed to have to pay is 2K, so I am responsible as an employer to cover that last 1K if necessary.

I have employees ranging from mid 20's to mid 50's. My premium is approx. $1,700/month which comes out to $425/employee which we pay in full as a company benefit.

There are lots of plans out there with varying degrees of coverage.

Do yourself a HUGE favor, and find a health insurance agent to work with you in securing the best coverage for your needs without having to decipher through pages of incomprehensible coverage plans and deductibles.
That's how we did it, and it was a done deal in a matter of a couple of days.

Best Regards,
Russ

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Wrus,

If I get this right you are paying 100% for your employees ? That's so cool and I commend you. From 1986 to 2001 I had a large shop here in mass with up to 20 guys. I paid 100% I wanted to give back to them in a way that said I support you and thank you for the dedication to our company. If I remember correctly our highest cost in that time was nearly 60 grand for the year. We had great Blue cross coverage maybe a little too great but it felt good to be able to do it for everyone. Today I have a small shop with four guys two being part time. Along with myself the other two full time guys are covered by their wives work policy. I want to stay small and not have to get into things like providing health insurance.
Employees especially the young ones tend to take things like health insurance for granted and don't understand the actual cost to us, it's all about whats in there pockets at the end of the week. Even though we are very small I have a meeting every six weeks with the guys and let them know how we are doing. I show them a spread sheet that details our costs and breaks down everything into categories. They are surprised what it takes just to keep the lights on before we even start cutting metal. I found that sharing this kind of information has made a very positive impact something I noticed right away was that everyone took better care of our consumable tooling, inserts and end mills in particular. Having the right people who really care about the shop doing well is key.
Once a month a truck comes to pick up our chips and I usually get four to six hundred dollars for the scrap. I divide it up evenly and had it out in this meeting. Everyone looks forward to this meeting

Make Chips Boys !

Ron

15 years ago I payed 1500 per month for my wife and myself. I now have the platinum plan for my wife and my son and we pay 782 dollars per month with a 1200 dollar deductable. I think the ACA is the best thing ever, or at least way better than the old system. My brother payed 3000 per month for himself with a 10,000 dollar deductable he now pays 400 with a 1200 dollar deductable. He has cancer so he used to be stuck with the company he started with because he used to be uninsurable. We were totaly uninsurable till the ACA went into effect. My one employee who is 25 has asthma and could not afford the medicine and had a severe attack and spent a week in icu 5 years ago that is were the bills came from. I talked with a broker and they told me to just buy them individual plans on the government site. They look like they will only cost a couple hundred bucks each a month for a decent policy. This is so much better than before, we were dropped by our insurer or forced out when they raised our premium to 5 grand a month after my son was born, there were complications. I will get them signed up as soon as we can.

kpotter said:

15 years ago I payed 1500 per month for my wife and myself. I now have the platinum plan for my wife and my son and we pay 782 dollars per month with a 1200 dollar deductable. I think the ACA is the best thing ever, or at least way better than the old system. My brother payed 3000 per month for himself with a 10,000 dollar deductable he now pays 400 with a 1200 dollar deductable. He has cancer so he used to be stuck with the company he started with because he used to be uninsurable. We were totaly uninsurable till the ACA went into effect. My one employee who is 25 has asthma and could not afford the medicine and had a severe attack and spent a week in icu 5 years ago that is were the bills came from. I talked with a broker and they told me to just buy them individual plans on the government site. They look like they will only cost a couple hundred bucks each a month for a decent policy. This is so much better than before, we were dropped by our insurer or forced out when they raised our premium to 5 grand a month after my son was born, there were complications. I will get them signed up as soon as we can.

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This is what so outrageous about ACA. It did not control the healthcare cost, just shifted the burden, the disparity in insurance cost between states is outrageous. My individual plan here (we have 3 "kids" in their 20s, students) cost us almost $900 a month with a 6K deductible. There is no normalization across the entire nation, and the insurance companies still allowed to treat each state as a separate risk pool. So whatever they can get away with they will . Some predictions say that this year they may actually collect 25% of the GDP. Nice little blip in revenue.

dee
;-D

kpotter said:

15 years ago I payed 1500 per month for my wife and myself. I now have the platinum plan for my wife and my son and we pay 782 dollars per month with a 1200 dollar deductable. I think the ACA is the best thing ever, or at least way better than the old system. My brother payed 3000 per month for himself with a 10,000 dollar deductable he now pays 400 with a 1200 dollar deductable. He has cancer so he used to be stuck with the company he started with because he used to be uninsurable. We were totaly uninsurable till the ACA went into effect. My one employee who is 25 has asthma and could not afford the medicine and had a severe attack and spent a week in icu 5 years ago that is were the bills came from. I talked with a broker and they told me to just buy them individual plans on the government site. They look like they will only cost a couple hundred bucks each a month for a decent policy. This is so much better than before, we were dropped by our insurer or forced out when they raised our premium to 5 grand a month after my son was born, there were complications. I will get them signed up as soon as we can.

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Holy butt raping Batman! $1500/month?!? About 15 years ago (I remember because my daughter will be 15 at the end of the year ) I was paying like $30/week for me, the wife, and 2 stepchildren. That included extra (company had like a 10k life insurance or something) life insurance coverage! When my daughter was born we paid $250 co-pay. Yep, that's it. No separate Dr bills, no OBgyn bills, no medicines, or all the other crap they bill you for now when you go to the hospital. Those days are long gone. Now I pay about $80/week for the (only the 3 of us now at home) HDP, $3500 deductible before any insurance kicks in, no co-pays, meaning we pay the full Dr bill or prescription cost until the deductible is met. Used to be (at least IIRC) most insurance plans had a deductible you met for like hospital and stuff, but you had a co-pay for the Dr and prescriptions AND that co-pay was applied to your deductible.

Mike1974, that's how much you pay when your employer is paying the lion's share of the cost on a group plan. That said, the average monthly premium for an individual in the USA in 2013 was only $235.

dcsipo, didn't ACA put limits on the overhead an insurer can have? Like, at least 80% of revenues must go to paying claims? Maybe that was just Massachusetts, or maybe it was amended out by the Republicans before it passed.

grbl said:

Mike1974, that's how much you pay when your employer is paying the lion's share of the cost on a group plan. That said, the average monthly premium for an individual in the USA in 2013 was only $235.

dcsipo, didn't ACA put limits on the overhead an insurer can have? Like, at least 80% of revenues must go to paying claims? Maybe that was just Massachusetts, or maybe it was amended out by the Republicans before it passed.

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Yes I know my employer was paying most of it. I think when I got the COBRA letter when I left there (the place with awesome cheap insurance) it was like almost $900/month for me to continue coverage (which still doesn't sound bad to todays costs) but it was probably about 25% or so of my gross monthly income at the time.

I don't think the ACA put those limits, I remember getting a rebate one year (was like $40 or something), but I think it was before that, maybe 2010?

You guys know shit ,
Have you ever heard of Obamacare.
Tell you employes
The first of the year they can enroll.
Go to bluecross or bluesheild insurance.
If they make over $46000 a year there mouthy
bill will be about $430 ,if they make $40000 a
year there monthy bill will be about $300.
These prices are for a 50 to 55 year old male,
Your 30 year old employees will be alot less.
The less you make the less you pay, SO ANYONE CAN AFFORD IT!
Thats why it called the afordable care act.

This is for a Bronze 2 plan $6000 max out of pocket.
Example if you had to have a heart bypass and the bill come to $250,000 you would only pay $6000
of it.
So if you have a major bill like your employees did.
Owing 100 grand and having leins on every thing you own having insurance this will save you.

As an employer let them buy there own insurance.
they can afford it.

Kallam said:

You guys know shit ,
Have you ever heard of Obamacare.
Tell you employes
The first of the year they can enroll.
Go to bluecross or bluesheild insurance.
If they make over $46000 a year there mouthy
bill will be about $430 ,if they make $40000 a
year there monthy bill will be about $300.
These prices are for a 50 to 55 year old male,
Your 30 year old employees will be alot less.
The less you make the less you pay, SO ANYONE CAN AFFORD IT!
Thats why it called the afordable care act.

This is for a Bronze 2 plan $6000 max out of pocket.
Example if you had to have a heart bypass and the bill come to $250,000 you would only pay $6000
of it.
So if you have a major bill like your employees did.
Owing 100 grand and having leins on every thing you own having insurance this will save you.

As an employer let them buy there own insurance.
they can afford it.

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So when did $11.610 (premium + deductible in case you have to use it) a year for healthcare on a 46K a year salary become affordable? I do not know about you but anything that takes 25% of my total pre tax income is not affordable it is downright expensive. I find the amount i pay for healthcare barely "affordable" and darn expensive, and I have more leverage as far as my income goes. If I was getting healthcare outcomes far superior to any other place in the world i would grudgingly accept it, but statistically speaking the we are ranked 37th in the world. As far cost goes we are by far #1 in the world. so how do you like to pay primo boku 25 bucks for that McDonalds burger?

Greece and Portugal with their economic failures rated higher, Costa Rica, Colombia and Morocco are way ahead of the US. Good news is that we have buffer between Cuba on our ass, and Mexico is 24 places behind. The much maligned Canadian healthcare system is ahead of us, and Britain is in the top 20 . It is not throwing money at the system. If that was the solution we would not have this conversation.

World Health Organization?s Ranking of the World?s Health Systems | thepatientfactor.com

dee
;-D

Edit: here is one more interesting link...

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2014/jun/mirror-mirror

kpotter said:

15 years ago I payed 1500 per month for my wife and myself. I now have the platinum plan for my wife and my son and we pay 782 dollars per month with a 1200 dollar deductable. I think the ACA is the best thing ever, or at least way better than the old system. My brother payed 3000 per month for himself with a 10,000 dollar deductable he now pays 400 with a 1200 dollar deductable. He has cancer so he used to be stuck with the company he started with because he used to be uninsurable. We were totaly uninsurable till the ACA went into effect. My one employee who is 25 has asthma and could not afford the medicine and had a severe attack and spent a week in icu 5 years ago that is were the bills came from. I talked with a broker and they told me to just buy them individual plans on the government site. They look like they will only cost a couple hundred bucks each a month for a decent policy. This is so much better than before, we were dropped by our insurer or forced out when they raised our premium to 5 grand a month after my son was born, there were complications. I will get them signed up as soon as we can.

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Kevin, talk with your accountant about the best scenario for you. If you have your employees pay for their own insurance and reimburse them, you may not get to deduct it. If you go through an agent and/or get a business health insurance policy, it is deductible.

The cost may be slightly higher to do it through the agent, but when it comes tax time, you may be better off at the end of the year, and having an agent gives you the opportunity to ask all the little annoying questions about healthcare that you would be spending considerable time researching on your own, just to find an answer.

Oh.....and then you'll need to hire a Philadelphia lawyer to translate it into layman's terms to really know what it all means.

Later,
Russ

Kevin- consider joining NTMA- they offer some pretty nice options thru Sentry Insurance for employees. By the way- Danielle and I had a great time visiting with you a few weeks ago- thanks again. Dan

I am not going to touch on the politics involved.....I will say kudos to you for wanting to do what you can for your employees. You sound like a fair guy to work for. I have no idea if they are available any longer (i suspect not) but years ago when I worked for a small company they provided us with a catastrophic plan which basically meant if I went to the doctor with a sinus infection I paid the bill...minus whatever write offs had been negotiated. But if I got hit by a truck on the way home.....I would have had a $5000 or $10000 bill ( I honestly dont remember the deductible) instead of a $250000 bill. Worked well for me when I was younger, probably not so good now that I am old and grumpy.

Here again....I do not know how they set it up, or what the legalities may or may not be.....a small company my wife may or may not have worked at used to allow a dollar amount per year that they would re-imburse her(or some other employee) for medical bills. She had to show them the bill and they would cut her a check. They allowed 25% of the total allotment per quarter so that they didnt end up with a huge bill all in one quarter. I imagine all sorts of ways that may have been illegal......but it worked great.

Definitely look at what various trade associations or guilds may offer in a group policy. Another benefit you may consider is making a certified financial planner available to them for, say, one planning session a quarter. Not necessarily for investment purposes, but for budgeting, tax planning, and getting on payment plans for their med bills. For two or three folks, that may only be $2k a year or so. Having a pro do it should remove you from the liability chain, and keeps your relationships with employees at an appropriate level.

Chip