If you are like most businesses, you have received your health insurance renewal with at least a 20-40% increase coming up in 2016. The main reason for this increase is that most businesses are having to move to an ACA (Affordable Care Act) plan from the pre-ObamaCare health insurance design. Last year, companies were able to delay the huge price increase by “grandmothering” their health insurance plan until the end of 2015. Now, we are all having to move to the compliant ACA plan that comes with a huge health insurance price increase for 2015 and 2016. There are some strategies that businesses are using to ease the pain a bit.
Strategies that businesses are using to deal with the huge health insurance price increase
When a business is facing a 25-70% increase in their health insurance renewal, they become very motivated to some out of the box thinking to ease the pain of the huge health insurance price increase. Many companies are moving to a higher deductible plan and then helping employees “insure” their deductible. Call me and I can explain in more detail. Other companies are having to share the price increase with the employees by having the employees pay more for their coverage. Other business owners are using other health insurance products to cope with the huge price increase we are all seeing.
Other insurance products are helping employees with deductible coverage
When an employee has a deductible that is $2000 or more, many companies are using products to help the employee insure that deductible with progressive products that pay for the deductible. On first look, many employers are hesitant to bring in those type of products, for fear of “over insuring” their people. Once they understand the concept of how it works, most are agreeable to this type of strategy. These products are also what they call “voluntary”, meaning that employers are not required to pay anything towards the price. They can be offered to each employee as an option. Some employers pay for none of it, others pay for a portion, it all depends on the company’s budget. Its a great option for employers that want to help defer the huge price increase of the recent health insurance premiums for 2015 and 2016.