Small business owner discusses the need for health reform
More than 70% of Illinois residents get their health insurance through their employers. Here’s how to provide your employees, and yourself, with cheap small business health insurance in Illinois.
Small Business Health Insurance Plans
There are a number of plans available to small businesses in Illinois. The most common plans include:
Managed Care Plans
These are the most popular types of small business health insurance. These plans (HMOs, PPOs, and POSs) provide comprehensive health care services through a network of health care providers.
* HMOs (health maintenance organizations) pay for health care such as doctor visits, hospitals expenses, and surgical fees. You pay a monthly premium plus a small co-payment (usually $5 to $10) for each doctor visit. You must use the doctors and hospitals within the organization, and consult with a primary care physician before you can see a specialist.
* PPOs (preferred provider organizations) are similar to HMOs except that medical treatment is paid for as it is received. Instead of paying a monthly premium, you submit a claim after receiving medical services and are reimbursed for the claim minus a co-payment. You can see doctors outside the organization for an additional fee.
* POSs (point of service) plans are a combination of an HMO and a PPO. Like an HMO you pay a small co-payment for each doctor visit (usually $5 to $10). Like a PPO you may see doctors outside the health care network for an additional fee and a slightly higher co-payment.
Indemnity Plans
These plans, also called fee-for-service plans, are the traditional health insurance plans that allow you to choose your own doctors and hospitals. They pay for a percentage of your medical costs (usuallly 80%) after you pay a deductible (usually $500 to $2,000). Indemnity plans are the most expense health insurance plans.
Saving on Small Business Health Insurance
Here are five ways to save on small business health insurance:
1. Choose a managed health care plan. These are the least expensive types of health insurance, with HMOs being the cheapest.
2. Choose a high deductible. If you have healthy employees who don’t need a lot of medical care, this can save you a lot of money on your health insurance.
3. Get tax deductions. You may be able to deduct the premiums you pay on your small business health insurance. Offering health insurance coverage as part of your employee’s benefits may also reduce your payroll tax.
4. Stress preventive care. Encourage your employees to eat right and exercise. Not only will this decrease health care costs, it will also increase productivity.
5. Compare health insurance quotes. Comparing quotes for different health insurance companies can save you hundreds, even thousands of dollars on your insurance costs.
Visit http://www.LowerRateQuotes.com/health-insurance.html or click on the following link to get cheap Illinois small business health insurance quotes from top-rated companies and see how much you can save. You can get more insurance tips in their Articles section.
Watch the video related to small business health insurance
Mike Draper, owner of SMASH of Des Moines, IA, testifies before the House Ways and Means Committee on how the cost of health care is affecting his small business, and his support for the choice of a public health insurance option.
Help answer the question about small business health insurance
what are the advantages of cobra insurance versus individual or small business health insurance?About Author
The author, Brian Stevens, is a former insurance agent and financial consultant who has written a number of articles of small business health insurance in Illinois.
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Posted by American Car Insurance on January 25th, 2010 filed in business insurance | 18 Comments »
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18 Responses to “Small business owner discusses the need for health reform”
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January 25th, 2010 at 4:35 am
Go SMASH!
January 25th, 2010 at 5:35 am
Awesome opening line. ^^The kind of boss I want to work for.
January 25th, 2010 at 7:15 am
Healthcare just needs some more butter. More butter and everything will be just fine. That’s what Daryl says, and if you need any cooking, bartending, or bouncing done, give me a call.
January 25th, 2010 at 4:12 am
Well, COBRA will most likely cover maternity. Individual plans won't.
And, individual and small business plans are individually underwritten, so the company can say, "oh, you have XYZ wrong with you, we'll take you, but we won't cover anything related to XYZ". Or worse, "sorry, we won't insure people with XYZ". Cobra won't do that.
January 25th, 2010 at 10:39 am
nice work mikeD. and fancy work with that pen in the first couple of minutes. and sharp suit. just promise you’ll stay here with all us schmucks and not turn in to a congressman…
at least for a couple of years.
January 25th, 2010 at 5:03 am
healthplans.my-age.net – here is my health insurance plan. As I remember they can provide such a service.
January 25th, 2010 at 5:32 am
You should request information from all the major health care providers in your area. Make sure you ask for price sheets that compare all of their plans. Once you have them you can compare all the companies. The best rate will probably be an HMO, but look into others as well. Also ask your employees what they want in health care coverage, or what plans they had with other employers.
January 25th, 2010 at 7:23 am
~~There may be better tax advantages by incorporating but it will not affect your premiums. I don't know what state you live in, but I will give you the number to our insurance agent we use with Costco Insurance. Her name is Lisa and call her at 1-800-611-9057 ext #2206.
We currently have Costco Insurance which is under our business (has to have two people covered) and is through United Healthcare. They are excellent and our premiums for great coverage are very reasonable. It does go by age, so the younger you are the less it costs.preexistingting clause is required. Dental is also available.
Our business is suffering from the bad economy so we are currently working again with her to get us more of a major medical coverage to reduce the premiums, because things are so tight. This girl has gone out of her way to find us a top notch policy at unbelievable rates. It isn't through Costco anymore, which I loved having their backing, but it is with Blue Shield and it is still a very trustworthy insurance.
She'll do whatever she can to get you great insurance. We've used her for over 6 years now and she is awesome. I hope you live in a state which she can sell in. Good luck!~~
January 25th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Ok ok ok ok … slow down there, bub. All the sense you’re making and rational conclusions to realistic problems is a bit suspect. Are you sure you’re in front of congress?
January 25th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
There are too many variables to answer how much the insurance would cost, such as how many employees, their gender and ages, current health status, whether their families will be covered, and what the business is. If it is just you and/or your immediate family you would need an individual policy. Many companies will write group policies for as few as two employees but I recommend a group policy only for groups of 10 or more. The reason being; if someone in your group becomes ill and needs a very expensive medical procedure your group rates can go up dramatically (300%-400%). With individual policies that doesn't happen.
Your best bet would be to contact a local independent agent who can match you up with a company that provides the most benefits for a reasonable premium. The insurance cost the same going through an agent as it does doing it yourself, so use their expertise. If you can't find a local agent go to this website: http://www.yourhealthplanadvisor.com/ooshealth.html – type in your zip code and fill out the form and expect several agents to call you.
One word of caution. Stay away from the policies that advertise "affordable group rates" for the self-employed. There is too much dirt on these companies to go into here.
January 25th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
M.D. for president!
January 26th, 2010 at 3:21 am
That was really good. : ]
January 26th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
It depends on several factors, including the type of business, age of the group members, general health and claims experience of the members (and any family members also included in the plan), location, type of plan, and deductible.
For the sake of comparison, if everyone is in fairly good health and not working in a physically dangerous job, in Virginia a plan with a $500 deductible (and $25 copayments for doctor office visits from day one) would run approximately $3000/month. If anyone in the group is seriously overweight, or has any significant health issues, it could easily go to $4500 (or more, depending on how many people have issues.)
Honestly, you'd really need to speak with an agent who can help you determine what's called the CMF (a rating factor they use based on the health and claims experience of the members of the group) and figure out which plans might be a good match.
If you're looking in Virginia or West Virginia, I can help you. You can contact me directly via email, if you like.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:51 am
Well done. Well said.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:51 am
i second dr. caroff’s comment!
martin
January 27th, 2010 at 4:32 am
OK, I've written business insurance on businesses owned by felons. It's not a deal breaker, but for a NEW business, you're likely going to be in the surplus lines market. You need to go to an independent agent, give them details on the type of business it is, and get quotes for the business insurance.
If you're only buying health insurance for one or two employees, it's going to be INDIVIDUAL coverage, not a group plan, in most states. It gets underwritten and priced based on the age, the health, and the coverages. If the agent doing the business insurance isn't licensed for health insurance, ask them for a referral.
**caveat – any illegal acts committed by an owner of the business are NOT COVERED anyway – just want to make sure you know that. If the partner runs off with the stock, it's your loss.**
January 28th, 2010 at 12:54 am
Simply put Obama's plan is doomed to failure because Government run Healthcare does NOT work.
I investigated both Medicaid & Medicare Fraud for 28 years and observed hundreds of millions of dollars being stolen by the Providers ( Doctors ) & the Recipients ( Patients ) from the Government.
I once arrested a Dentist in Bronx, NY who billed Medicaid for $ 350 work of ficticious dental services on 40 medicaid recipients ( who were substance abusers ) each day.
For 18 months until he was apprehended & arrested this Dentist paid 40 Recipients 10 dollars each to come to his Office so he could x-ray their mouth.
The Dentist received a daily check of $ 13,500 per day for " working " from 10 AM – 12 Noon.
I arrested another Dentist who was heard on an undercover recording explaining to her hygenist why She ( Dentist ) did not sterilyze her instruments that she used on different patients.
The Dentist answered " Why do you care if I sterilyze my instruments or not ? They are all junkies with AIDS & they are all going to die anyway ! "
So much for Government Run Universal Health Care
January 28th, 2010 at 7:16 am
You will pay through the nose for any. Try Blue Cross.