Healthcare Reform Turmoil

The election results are in and the Republicans have retaken the House of Representatives.

Talk about the healthcare bill will once again be brought to the forefront of Congress. The Congress will attempt to change the present Health Care Initiative and this will put the entire Health Care system in turmoil again.

The new initiatives from the first bill have mixed reviews and have caused carriers to increase premiums. Options to employers have minimized while the premiums charged continue to escalate.

My clients ask me what they can do and I try to give them viable options to maintain the healthcare programs for their companies.

There will come a point where the choice will between giving a healthcare program or keep an employee working. The healthcare plan for that company will end. There will be a time when a small employer with less than 50 employees will NOT offer health plans.  It will be simply unaffordable.

So what steps do you take now as an employer?

Get the employees involved!  Either have them all in on the meetings or have them choose an employee representative to hear what the plans and costs are.

Most companies believe that they alone need to choose a plan.

This will not reduce the costs from the carriers but you might be surprised at the input from the employees.

Get the employees involved.

Editor’s note: This is a special post from insurance broker Alan Levenson.