As the owner of a small business, recruiting and retaining talented employees can be a challenge. Larger businesses are able to offer a broad array of attractive benefits such as paid parental leave, tuition reimbursement and health insurance. By expanding what you offer for healthcare, you may be able to attract or keep your best employees.
Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP)
The SHOP program is a federal health benefits program that small business owners can purchase group coverage on a discount. As long as you are the owner of a licensed and registered business with a tax identification number, you can participate in this plan. Income guidelines may change on a regular basis. To participate in this plan, you will need to know some basic information like your budget, tax ID number and the list of employees who you want to provide insurance to.
Self-Insured Plans
You can work with a healthcare broker to establish a self-insurance plan for your business. Through this type of a plan, your employees contribute a monthly amount to a fund. You contribute a specified amount every month. When an employee or dependent experiences a qualifying health event, the plan can be used to pay for the medical bills according to the benefit schedule. These plans require a considerable amount of documentation. The IRS is also known to change the amount of tax credits and rebates that small business owners can receive for offering these programs.
Private Health Exchanges
Look to your state department of insurance to determine if your state participates in a private health exchange. If it does, your business may be able to participate in it. Private health exchanges abide by the Affordable Care Act and are designed to minimize your business’ expenses while still complying with federal requirements for individuals to have health insurance. Make sure the health providers are high quality and have expertise in health management in order to best serve your employees. As the business owner, you contribute a defined amount for each employee every month and the employee selects a plan that best meets their coverage needs. Employees with dependents can choose coverage that may require them to contribute more than a single employee with no dependents.
These three healthcare benefits options are affordable for you and helpful to your staff. You can offer these benefits to your current employees and new hires. You can even include these new benefits in your recruitment postings, which can help to increase the number and type of candidates who apply for your job openings.
Meghan Belnap is a freelance writer who enjoys spending time with her family. She loves being in the outdoors and exploring new opportunities whenever they arise. Meghan finds happiness in researching new topics that help to expand her horizons. You can often find her buried in a good book or out looking for an adventure. You can connect with her on Facebook right here and Twitter right here.
I hadn’t heard of self-insurance plans before or SHOP. Great information, thanks for sharing!