Health Insurance New Options Make Health Insurance Affordable For Small Businesses

If you are a business owner, it's important to know that there are ways to make your healthcare more affordable. In the past few years, health insurance plans have changed and improved greatly in order to help small businesses get affordable coverage. A lot of these changes include options for medical reimbursement and wellness incentives.

These changes are also making monthly premiums easier on your budget as well as your employees’ wages.

Medical Reimbursement Plans

A medical reimbursement plan is a health insurance option for a small business. It can replace or cut costs that the company would normally incur in covering an employee's health insurance premiums and/or deductibles. The reimbursements depend on the plan you choose, and usually exceed 80 percent. Most plans are tax-free to employees, which means they don't need to worry about additional taxes as well as the cost of insurance premiums. In addition, these plans can be more affordable for employees than other traditional health insurance options in the short-term and long-term while still providing them with peace of mind coverage.

Reimbursement plans are a great alternative to traditional health insurance plans, which can cost both employees and their employer money.

Calculating Reimbursement Rates

The rates for medical reimbursement plans differ depending on the employer and employee. The reimbursement plan also has to be specified in the worksite's insurance policy. For those policies with reimbursement rates lower than the required 80 percent, businesses can use health savings accounts (HSAs). HSAs allow employees to save tax-free money into a special account if they are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP), and will contribute significantly when claiming their medical expenses.

With this type of plan, the money saved from medical reimbursements goes into an HSA account. This money then can be used to pay for a future medical expenses for the employee as well as health insurance deductibles and co-payments.

Medical Reimbursement Plans: Who Can Qualify?

There are 2 different types of medical reimbursement plans: reimbursement-based plans and fully insured plans. These are available to any employee who is a full time employee or has worked 100 hours in a month within the last year. It doesn't matter if you're new or have been with the company for more than 1 year, you can qualify for one of these options.

Reimbursement-based plans have a different provision that is beneficial to the employer: an employee's personal health insurance company isn't responsible for paying claims.

Fully Insured Plans

A fully insured plan is available to any employee who has worked 40 hours in a month within the last 12 months. You are required to have full personal medical coverage, but you don't need to pay any of the employees' premiums, because your company picks up all the costs associated with it. As long as you want, you can change this policy within certain time periods without having to notify your employees of the changes. The company pays 100 percent of all claims for each eligible employee and family member enrolled in this plan. The plan is available to any employee even if the employee isn't working all the time.

Or, there are also portability options that can be purchased with this option. With the portability options, employees can change jobs and have their plan transferred without interruption. Employees will not need to terminate their coverage when changing jobs.

Additionally, your business' policy can provide services like private duty nursing, chiropractic treatments and medical equipment reimbursement programs. Most of these services are extra benefits for the employees included in medical plans or on their own at a lower cost than traditional health insurance policies.

So, if you're looking for an affordable and flexible health insurance option to offer your employees, consider one of these options. These plans can enable your business to lower the cost of healthcare benefits while providing coverage for eligible employees.

What kind of medical reimbursement plan do you need?

Here are a few things to take into consideration when picking the right plan for your small business:

· How many people in your company are eligible for medical reimbursement plans?

· What is expected by the company's health insurance administrator? For example, how many people does he/she want covered in one plan and when do they want them covered and at what level? This can be found on a sample plan sheet or in the policy itself.

· What medical expenses can be reimbursed? A comparison of the plan and policy is a good way to know exactly what you can be reimbursed for. A quick example: if you need to purchase hearing aids and this isn't included in your plan, it's not covered by your policy. You'll want to make sure these are listed in your plan.

· How are eligible business owners identified? What proof of eligibility will they need? For example, how will they verify existing medical coverage or proof of enrollment in an HDHP with their current health insurance company? Some may require a signed letter from the employee or their employer stating that they have full medical coverage through their HDHP with no exceptions.

· What happens if you get sick and your child gets sick? Can both families be covered under the same plan or is one family responsible for providing coverage for both children until they are covered by a different plan? In some plans, you'll only be able to enroll one family member per policy.

· What procedures and treatments are included in the plan that are usually not covered by traditional plans? For example, dental services and eye exams aren't usually covered by health insurance policies. Another example would include hearing aids, unless you have an older sibling who has hearing issues. If this isn't specifically listed in the medical reimbursement policy, there's a good chance it won't be covered under your policy either.

· How much employer contribution will your company provide? This can be found in the sample plan or on the policy itself.

· Is there a demonstration period for employees to see if medical expenses are reimbursed? This is helpful for employees who want to see how their medical expenses will be handled before jumping into something they aren't sure about.

What is Medical Reimbursement Coverage & How Much Does it Cost?

Reimbursement coverage is a type of health insurance that reimburses money related to your medical bills. Basically, it works like any other health insurance policy. That means you get medical coverage but your employer makes up the difference between what you pay and what you receive from your carrier.

There are two types of medical reimbursement plans: reimbursement-based and fully insured. A reimbursement-based plan reimburses you for medical expenses based on a percentage of your taxable wages, while an insurer pays the full amount. A fully insured plan pays 100 percent of covered claims.

Here are some sample medical reimbursement costs:

· Premium - The premium is determined by the amount you contribute each pay period, either weekly or monthly, to your current health insurance plan and the state's minimum required premium. For health care coverage through a company, contribution rates range from 3 to 35 percent. The average employer contribution rate is 20 percent but there is a wide range of variance given that different states have different requirements.

Conclusion

Small business owners must take into consideration a variety of issues when weighing the benefits and costs of different health insurance options.

To learn more about Medical Reimbursement Plans, please visit the following websites:

http://ksdenti.com/Health_Care_Insurance_Benefits.html http://www.ezmoblue.com/reimbursement-medical-health-insurance-plan.php http://www.napaonline.net/reizingconsulting/health-care-insurance-benefits http://www.medicolegalbookeebscoverservices.