Many employers are under the assumption that they when they provide Health Insurance or Employee Benefits to their employees, the cost will be hundreds of dollars a month per employee. I have spoken to many that believe that they are responsible for a majority, or all of the expenses related to Employee Health Insurance.
On an Employer Sponsored Employee Benefits plan, (typical Business Health Insurance plan) the employer is only responsible for 50% of the LOWEST cost plan, for a SINGLE employee in their 20’s. So basically we’re talking about a cost anywhere from $75 to maybe $150 a month, depending on the California Employer Benefits that are chosen. My advice to many of my clients is to set a “defined contribution” of money that you will contribute per month, per employee. Conversely, if you agree to pay for 50% or 100% of the employees cost, now you are committed to THAT premium for the employees, if the cost goes up 25%….YOU are stuck paying for that increase. If you have a DEFINED CONTRIBUTION, the amount you have set stays fixed, and YOU have the option of raising it to help the employee with the increase in premium, making you the benevolent employer!
Employee Health Benefits can be expensive….no doubt about it, but this may be the only Health Insurance your employees are able to get. California Health Insurance continues to increase year after year, but there are still many affordable plans that allow the employees to have Employee Health Insurance and will not break the employers bank account. Some plans are as low as $135 a month for a younger employee. Kaiser Health Insurance starts at about $150 or so.
Dental Insurance can be a HUGE benefit for employees. People with dental issues can relate to what I’m saying. Dental Insurance plans are even more affordable, starting at $35 a month for an employee, regardless of age. A really nice benefit with Group Dental plans is that in many cases, there are NO WAITING periods for work to be done. Your employees can begin getting their teeth fixed, orthodontics for their kids, immediately. There are even Delta HMO plans that are even cheaper, although I dont necessarily recommend them for everyone, where a FAMILY can get dental insurance for about $100 a month. I’m not a big fan of HMO dental plans for a couple of reasons, 1) Many times they use inferior metals for fillings, 2) they ALWAYS try to “upsell” you when you come in for dental work or checkups. This means that many times the HMO dentist will try and convince you to get work done that you may not need. I’ve even heard of stories where they put a lot of pressure on clients to get the work, scare tactics, etc……My advice, stick with the PPOs, they are not that much more money, and the quality is much better.
Employers….if you think you are paying too much for your Employee Health Insurance or Employee Dental Insurance, you probably are. Call us and we can give you the straight scoop, we work hard to “strategize” your Employee Benefits.
Steve Brauer, Brauer Insurance Services LLC, 3150 Almaden Expwy, Suite 203, San Jose, CA 95118, (408) 421-5555, (877) 421-4325.