Affordable Health Insurance For Small Business

Affordable Health Insurance for Small Businesses
Businesses with less than twenty employees who wish to provide Affordable Health Insurance for their employees often find the cost to offer such a benefit prohibitive. In most cases, they need to know in advance which type of Affordable Health Insurance plan they intend to offer their employees. The most expensive Affordable Health Insurance for small business owners is the traditional type that allows employees to choose the physician, hospital and prescription plan of their choice. The reason small business owners choose the HMO over the traditional is cost. However, there are several factors that should be addressed before committing to a specific Affordable Health Insurance plan:
A. The overall health of employees
B. The median age of all staff members who will be insured
C. The terms of the Affordable Health Insurance contract

Reading the Fine Print in Affordable Health Insurance Plans
In the early days of health benefits offered by employers, the type of plan offered was a competitive mechanism to attract the best employees, especially if the type of work involved had safety issues. Affordable Health Insurance was offered in these cases to avoid litigation from minor workplace injury. With the advent of HMOs, these plans began to rein in the cost employers paid to offer this benefit. Even so, health care costs continue to spiral out of control. In certain types of plans, employees are restricted from continuing with a prior plan doctor when the new employer's plan is different. Or, the prescription plan may be radically different from a prior employer's plan.

What Does Your Affordable Health Insurance Plan Cover?
What most plans cover are regular visits to a physician and any diagnostic work involved such as blood tests, EKGs or other necessary testing to determine cause of illness or debilitation. Certain plans restrict medications to generic brands. The problem is that in certain cases, instead of one prescription brand, two generic brands often must be combined to effect the same medical regimen. Not all prescription drugs are compatible. The cost to the employer for additional generic prescription drugs where one brand name drug is adequate, can, in effect, double. The same is true for physicians listed in plans. Many physicians no longer offer evening or weekend hours for those who are employed and have an employer-sponsored plan. This necessitates employees having to take time off from their jobs to have routine physician visits. This is one issue that should be clearly viewed before signing off on any Affordable Health Insurance contract inasmuch as employee absenteeism can play havoc with small businesses.

The Terms of the Affordable Health Insurance Contract
When considering a less expensive Affordable Health Insurance plan for small businesses, it's important to note the rate at which the plan costs will increase. Many plans will offer an initial lower rate, only to double in cost at time of renewal. Adhering to a small business budget is daunting in times of economic austerity. Affordable Health Insurance has become the most expensive item in small business budgets. There is more to a Affordable Health Insurance plan for small business than coverage for employees.