Due to the rising costs of health care, many small businesses are opting for health insurance stipends for employees rather than offering group benefits. Where once a full-time job provided health insurance plans for both the employee along with options to add additional family members to the group plan, soaring health insurance costs have not only caused small businesses to not allow employees the opportunity to cover family members under the group plan; but many of these businesses are finding it impossible to offer benefits at all.
Suffering from the affects of the economic recession and the inability to negotiate for better health insurance options, the benefits offered by small businesses are usually comprised of higher rates and lesser coverage. Other small businesses have begun to only offer part-time positions in order to avoid the health benefit issue altogether. Many small business owners have lost their best employees to larger businesses who can supply better, more affordable health insurance. Therefore, most agree health insurance reform is needed.
Yet, the current health care reform debate active in Washington is causing many small business owners to be concerned. Will the new changes mandate specific health care coverage, increase costs, or decrease the benefits to be offered?
Democratic Representative Charlie Gonzalez from San Antonio states the new health reform bill will enable small businesses to receive tax credits, be exempt from government mandates, and provide “insurance exchanges”; allowing small businesses to provide more affordable health care coverage to their less than 500 employees. Therefore, this reform bill could definitely benefit Texas small businesses, based upon the “Small Business Development Center at the University of Texas in San Antonio [which states that] about 94 percent of the employers in the San Antonio area fall into the small-business category, meaning they employ no more than 500 people” (Pack, 2009).
Still there are many others who are not certain that costs will be decreased, even if responsibility for obtaining health insurance is now place with the individual employee.
So if health care benefits become government-mandated for individuals (because uninsured individuals will be taxed $750) and not small business employers, how does this benefit the small business employee?
Maybe the health care reform bill needs to be renamed the health insurance bill?
If you are experiencing changes in your health insurance benefits, are in need of obtaining affordable Texas health insurance, or are considering starting your own business; please contact Richard Monello today at Custom Health Plans, Inc. 877-749-2241 or locally for those in the Dallas/Ft Worth area at 469-361-4032, or go to the website at www.customhealthplans.com.
Reference:
Pack, W. (2009, November 21). In Texas on the Potomac. As Senate considers health reform, small businesses fret. Retrieved on November 21, 2009 at http://blogs.chron.com/txpotomac/2009/11/as_senate_considers_health_ref.html
