Health Care: Benefits Surprise
Group coverage too pricey? Individual policies are better than you think Bryan Barnall has long prided himself on providing health insurance for the four employees of Printing Plus, his Lincoln (Neb.) commercial printer. Then his carrier upped his premiums by 50% two years in a row, and Barnall had to dump his group plan. But he didn’t leave his employees in the lurch.
Barnall’s workers now buy individual policies through his agent. Each pays $50 a month toward premiums; Barnall pays the rest and gives each employee $75 a month to put into a health savings account (HSA). Barnall deducts his entire outlay from his taxes. And he has cut the annual health-care costs for his $350,000 company in half, to about $12,000. “The change initially made my employees a bit nervous, but they’re all happy now,” says Barnall. (read more…)