Are you considering offering health insurance to employees? Here’s what you need to know.
If you want to attract top talent and keep them, you may want to consider offering health insurance. In North Carolina, if you have fewer than 50 full-time employees, offering coverage is optional, but you still must comply with the Affordable Care Act requirements.
When considering offering this employee benefit, you need to start with these two things:
1. Ask Lesemann CPAs, Your Trusted Advisor, what you can afford.
Offering insurance is a big expense, and you’ll want to be sure that your business is financially ready to offer it and can continue to offer it in the future. We’ll discuss with you whether you want to pay for 100% of your employees’ premiums or if it’s better to split it 50/50. Do you want to cover spouses and dependents? Or perhaps offer to pay 50% of their premium? Some small businesses can’t cover spouses and dependents but instead are able to pass on the group savings.
None of this is guesswork. We will take a look at your business’s financials and make informed recommendations so that you maintain a healthy bottom line.
2. Use an insurance broker.
Brokers have access to dozens of insurers and can search for the best policy for your money. They will save you all the legwork of calling multiple insurers and can become a trusted resource if you need to switch companies down the line. Sometimes a health insurance company will have a substantial increase in premium, and you’ll want an insurance broker to once again look for the best rate.
Always make sure your insurance broker is comparing apples to apples. In other words, you need to check deductibles and coverage against premium costs. It’s often attractive to go with a cheaper policy, but it could also mean higher deductibles and less coverage.
The success of your business depends on smart and effective financial decisions, which include all your insurance needs. If you’d like us to refer you to insurance brokers we trust, give us a call at 704-895-6966.
