Small Business
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Health Plan Costs and Savings
For years, the answer to escalating health plan costs has been to shift more and more of this cost to employees. But is there an opportunity for real savings and not simply cost-shifting? The answer is, “Yes.” However, it will be necessary to understand the basic elements of a health plan to recognize potential savings. In this article, I listed these elements with a basic definition. Each will be examined in greater detail in subsequent…
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Level Premium – A Plan For Your Small Business
The Affordable Care Act caused a dramatic shift in the health insurance landscape, particularly for small businesses. Underwriting a fully insured plan under 50 employees is no longer allowed. While this simplifies the process and offers many protections, the inflationary impact has been enormous, driving many employers to evaluate the feasibility of having no health plan at all, or to consider self-funding. Remember: What is a self-funded plan? What is required for a company to…
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Fully-Insured vs. Self-Insured Health Plans
In my article entitled “Health Plan Costs and Savings,” we defined some basic elements of health plans. I also briefly introduced two different plans: fully-insured plans and self-insured plans. Let’s go into a little more detail about fully-insured vs. self-insured health plans. Fully-Insured Plans – Fully-insured plans have dominated the small group health insurance market for years. Being able to offer affordable health insurance is extremely important for business owners, and fully-insured plans have, until recently, offered “the…
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“The New Normal”: COVID-19 and Small Business
“Things just aren’t the same anymore.” As small business owners, we hear this every day. COVID-19 has changed the world forever. This is the ‘New Normal.’ Probably some truth here, but let’s not predict total gloom and doom for small business because of COVID. The New Normal doesn’t have to be all bad if we can stay focused on the opportunities in front of us and not panic. Change is difficult. Who in his/her right…