Only 43% of small businesses still offer full health coverage to its employees compared to 96% of business with at least 50 employees. That is the situation regarding the case of business in the United States of America due to skyrocketing premiums.
According to Richard Corde, managing partner of Boeggeman, George and Corde, this was the first time he seems to be grappling as to whether he should make employees pay part of the premium. It is rising so quickly that it nearly doubled the firm’s total compensation budget. “I don’t know how many years of those kinds of increases my company can absorb,” he added.
The lawmakers in Washington are trying there very best to write a legislation to contain health care cost and expand coverage. But even if a reform passes this year, it would only take effect on 2011 at the earliest. This is primarily due to the fact that many small businesses are thinking a lot of times if how much is the amount of premium that would enable their employees and families to be healthy.
True, we can always have the option to let employees pay and choose their own insurance, which essentially means lesser deductibles. But the rise of medical costs has also something to do with this. When that happens, employees might as well let the companies do the job for them.
So as an alternative many businesses today are considering the fact that employees might have to pay higher premiums, deductibles, or co-payments for their company to be able to survive. A lot of these companies are at their worst year of its operational history.
In the long run, companies will eventually need to find a creative long-term solution such as how to keep their employees healthy by offering gym memberships, among many others. This way, when healthy it would eventually make them think less of the insurance’s.