Group Health Insurance...

Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
We've been working on our group insurance plan lately since our renewal is upon us. Our coverage costs increased 12% for 2019-2020. 12% is a big number for small business. Lots of work has to be done to net 12% to cover the cost of that increase. Employees pay $10 per week/$520/year towards their health insurance.

The most concerning is the forecast for the renewal next year in 2020-2021. The group health plans were grandfathered until 2020, then have to meet ObamaCare requirements. Projections for us, if our aging staff remains healthy, show an increase of 68%. That's roughly $68,000 in additional premiums with less coverage.

I feel like 68% is going to be unsustainable. I don't see how any of these group plans are going to be affordable for small businesses. Somebody explain to me again what was wrong with our cost of health care before Obama "fixed it"?

I really hope this ends up being a gigantic election issue. Something needs to be done, or we will have a single payer system by default, and everyone will suffer the consequences of socialized medicine.

Maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong angle? If we drop the group insurance all together, I realize some of the employees will qualify for subsidized rates, but others will not. How does any of this help working people contributing to the system?

I'm really at a loss, and struggling with it.
 

Helium

Old Mossy Horns
12% increase is the average i believe... at least it’s what I see annually even in our large corporation
 

ddavenport

Six Pointer
Contributor
We fight the same battle. Dropping the coverage will help some, but the ones that do not qualify for a subsidy will get killed when they get their own policy through the marketplace. For example, rates for our group plan, which is a small group, are probably at least 15-20% better than what we could get in the marketplace for similar coverage.
 

dc bigdaddy

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Bux, I know you look out for your employees, but my last place of employment made us pay $60/week and where I'm at now, I just went with the wife's school insurance.

I know that is not what you are looking for, but I haven't seen employee cost that low since 2000.
 

Mr.Gadget

Old Mossy Horns
Yep 10$ a week pending the insurance coverage is cheap.
Wife pays lots more than that working for a big hospital system and gov jobs pay more than that.
 

Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
We fight the same battle. Dropping the coverage will help some, but the ones that do not qualify for a subsidy will get killed when they get their own policy through the marketplace. For example, rates for our group plan, which is a small group, are probably at least 15-20% better than what we could get in the marketplace for similar coverage.

We've been discussing all those scenarios. It's a tough decision to make.
 

Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
Bux, I know you look out for your employees, but my last place of employment made us pay $60/week and where I'm at now, I just went with the wife's school insurance.

I know that is not what you are looking for, but I haven't seen employee cost that low since 2000.

It is definitely not what I'm looking for, but I don't think there is any other way at this point. At the end of the day, I can adjust my lifestyle for unexpected expenditures. But not having a job at all is a no go.
 

hitman6397

Old Mossy Horns
You might already be doing it but a high deductible plan will cost less on the front end, but if you have to use it is where it gets you.
 

Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
You might already be doing it but a high deductible plan will cost less on the front end, but if you have to use it is where it gets you.

Yeah. We have been looking into that as well. That is a double edged sword for lots of people that don't have several thousand dollars laying around. Have considered doing higher deductibles, and then reimbursing the employee 1/3 to half of it to ease the financial burden if they have a problem. It would be a bit of a gamble if a lot of employees hit the max deductible, but it could save everyone some money if everyone stayed healthy. Not sure if that is even legal, or what the tax ramifications are, just something we have been brainstorming about. We have a year to figure it out.

I just think it is going to place undo hardship on honest hardworking people that don't deserve it.
 
Last edited:

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Yeah. We have been looking into that as well. That is a double edged sword for lots of people that don't have several thousand dollars laying around. Have considered doing higher deductibles, and then reimbursing the employee 1/3 to half of it to ease the financial burden if they have a problem. It would be a bit of a gamble if a lot of employees hit the max deductible, but it could save everyone some money if everyone stayed healthy. Not sure if that is even legal, or what the tax ramifications are, just something we have been brainstorming about. We have a year to figure it out.

I believe quite a few small businesses went to that during the Obama years. High deductible with an HSA that the employer puts money into.
 

Windrunner

Twelve Pointer
I hate high deductible plans. I hate having to explain to my patients that their childs medicine is several hundred dollars due to their plan. Many of my regular patients don't reach their deductible or if they do it's late in the year and will start over in a month or two.

I don't get insurance through work, thankfully because even though I work for CVS who owns their own insurance company the plans they offer really suck. So I get my own plan through the marketplace.

When choosing a plan, the biggest thing I look for is the max out of pocket cost. That includes deductibles and copays. It can range from a few hundred to several thousand. The lower the better obviously because once you hit your max out of pocket your copays drop to zero.

I chose a silver plan, about 430/month though with the tax credit I pay nothing, my max out of pocket is $600 which I already hit.

I don't know how much one has to make to stop being eligible for the subsidy but there is a minimum too, I think around under 23-24k/year one would not be eligible for any subsidy and because NC didn't expand Medicaid they wouldn't be eligible for that either
 

ddavenport

Six Pointer
Contributor
I believe quite a few small businesses went to that during the Obama years. High deductible with an HSA that the employer puts money into.
This is the best way to help the employees with high deductible plans. The employer and employee can contribute to the account and there are income tax and payroll tax advantages for both.
 

GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Now instead of people going bankrupt from unpaid medical bills they go bankrupt from unpaid deductibles or they die get sick from not being able to afford 3-400$/month medicine. The whole point of Obamacare was to destroy the system and force single payer healthcare.
 
Top