Most business organizations offer essential mandatory insurance policies for all of their employees. Health insurance is one of the most important insurance policies a company must have for all its workers. This is especially crucial for factories or construction companies that work with machines and heavy-duty equipment.
Research shows that companies with insurance policies for their employees experience increased employee retention, improved company efficiency, and reduced absenteeism. Employees consider health insurance a major employee benefit that they have the right to enjoy while working for a company. It is also an attractive offer that employers should have as part of the compensation package since its cost is tax deductible.
Generally, you want a healthy workforce that is 100% committed to your organization to achieve a successful, bigger, and better business. What better way to make your employees happy to work for you than to provide one of their basic needs; basic health care?
It is important, therefore, important to have health insurance for you and your employees. Selecting the right insurance policies for your employees requires common knowledge of the policies available and how they favor you and your employees.
Selecting a Health Insurance Policy for Your Business Organization
Choosing the right health insurance policy for your business can be a bit stressful because you have to consider a lot of things. Every option is important, but some are more important than others. Before deciding on which health insurance works for you, there are a few things you need to consider;
- Cost of the Insurance: As a business organization that is going to be catering to several peoples’ health insurance, you must consider the cost of the insurance and compare it with other insurers before making a decision. Get quotes from different insurance companies and compare them before choosing the right and affordable one for you.
- In-network or Out of network care: You have to decide if you will use in-network care or out-of-network care.
- Pre-approval: You have to consider your employees’ pre-existing illnesses. They might need pre-approval from the provider to seek treatments. Employees with pre-existing illnesses might have to use specific health insurance policies.
- Primary care physicians: For every one of your employees, you need to consider if they will be okay with receiving medical care from a physician or if they already have a registered doctor.
- Convenience: You have to consider the convenience of your employees before choosing the right health insurance policy for them. If the plans you choose are not convenient for your employees, it might be as good as not having any insurance. You have to consider how easily your employees can schedule meetings with their providers, choose providers, and file claims or make complaints.
- Context: When choosing the best policy for your employees, it can be beneficial to consider the anticipated insurance coverage in relation to other employee benefits. For instance, you might want to consider a more comprehensive health insurance plan if your company does not offer vision, dental, or life insurance coverage to retain employee happiness.
All of these factors should be considered before choosing health insurance policies for your employees. What, then, are different types of health insurance suitable for most employees?
Types of Health insurance you can use for your employees
There are four types of health insurance, each of which depends on the costs, copays, and special services they provide.
- Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)
The HMO is a popular type of health insurance policy that establishes networks of providers for employees. The HMO is a low-budget insurance plan that allows employees to seek medical attention from available providers. The employees pay part of the insurance fee from their salary, but if they require a network provider, they have to pay a higher amount. HMOs also require employees to establish a primary care physician who can refer them to specialists within their network. One also needs pre-approval for medical services in HMO. Services that require pre-approval vary based on the type of health insurance policy the employee chooses.
- Preferred Provider Organization (PPO)
The PPO is the most expensive health insurance policy that gives employees maximum or premium rights to see providers of their choice. PPO doesn’t establish networks of providers, which gives the employees more chances to choose their providers and greater flexibility in selecting the medical care they need. Flexibility costs more money, but your employees will have the most freedom regarding the provider they choose to see.
- Exclusive provider organization (EPO)
The EPO policy is just like the HMOs’, but the providers available in EPO are more than those of the HMO. The exclusive provider organization is more expensive than the HMO, as employees get many providers to choose from. In EPO, the out-of-network treatment is not covered, and you have to make an extra payment for the services of an outside specialist. Just like in the HMO, the EPO requires pre-approval as the insurance only covers the providers available in the EPO.
- Point of Service Plans (POSs)
The POSs require employees to choose a primary care physician and a specialist referral. The POS plan allows for out-of-network treatment, and you do not need to pay extra charges to see an outside doctor. The disadvantage of the POS plan is that the network may be limited, making it difficult to stay within your care network. The POS plan combines the HMO and EPO with the provider convenience of the PPO.
Why it is important to choose the right insurance policy for your employees
Choosing insurance policies that work for all your employees is very important as it directly affects how efficient and relentless your employees will be to their jobs. It is also important that all your employees are healthy enough for them to be able to carry out their activities properly and without excuses. When the employees know that they have a health insurance policy from their place of work, it gives them more zeal to work harder for the organization.
What is included in the health insurance networks?
A health insurance plan’s network includes all the health care providers registered with the insurance agency. They can include hospitals, physicians, labs, urgent care labels, x-ray labs, and many other healthcare workers. Whenever in-network is used, it means all the health care providers are in contract with the insurance agency, while out-of-network implies that the health care workers are not in contact with the insurance agency. Regardless of the insurance policy, you may have chosen for your employees, look out for the following things that must be included in the health insurance network. They include;
- Hospitals
- Physicians (specialists or primary care physicians)
- Labs
- X-ray facilities
- Emergency Clinic Center
- Medical equipment providers.
Employees should have access to these facilities and services through certified medical personnel. The insurance company should have some registered health care workers to provide services for all their policyholders.
Choosing the Right Insurance for Your Employees
Here are some important factors you need to consider when choosing health insurance policies to meet your employees’ needs.
- Determine what your employees’ needs are.
Before you hire a new employee, you need to ask them about their medical history and keep records of all your employees, which will help you determine what they need and also help you decide on what insurance policy is best for them.
Information like employees’ ages, medical reports, physical disabilities, and pre-existing diseases is essential to know about your employees. It can help you predict the type of coverage they might need in the future and the policy best for them. This arrangement is much easier for small business organizations where employers know their employees and can cover all their medical needs.
- Do proper research
Many insurance companies offer different insurance policies, depending on what you are looking for. That is why it is crucial to do thorough research on the insurance companies you want to sign up for and find out if they have benefits that favor you and your employees. Compare the plans and determine which ones are best for your employees. Also, check out the plans’ costs and compare them with those other insurance companies offer. You can check out different insurance companies available online to help you make the right choices. You can also shop Medicare Advantage plans to get many offers and discounts on all plans available.
- Consult your fellow business owners.
Asking for advice from other business owners can assist you in making the right decision. If you are confused about what plans to choose for your employees, what insurance company to use, or the type of health insurance you want to sign up for, you should ask your friends or employers currently using the insurance. They may offer insight into how it works and whether you can also use it for your employees.
Experienced business owners can help you by sharing how they approached their insurance policy selection process and the advantages and disadvantages of using different insurance policies. This will help you make better decisions for yourself and your employees.
- Consider your organization
You need to consider your business organization when hiring insurance for your employees. If you are a small business owner with few employees, you should consider the cost and the insurance plans you want to choose for your staff. You do not want to run a business if your liabilities are more than your assets. Also, you should put the type of organization you run into consideration. For example, if you own a factory or a construction company, you must ensure that health insurance covers field accidents and emergencies.
- Consider the future of the business.
Your business might be small now because you are just starting, but in some years, there’s a chance it will get bigger. This is why you need to consider the future of your business. The bigger the organization, the more employees you will need to run it, and the more people you need to be insured under your insurance plan.
After a few years, you can determine that the service provided by your present supplier isn’t satisfactory. Your employees won’t want to forfeit the benefits they have already accrued if you change providers, especially if they have pre-existing conditions and a waiting period.
Policies are typically only transferable to those with comparable risk. It may not be viable to port a policy if the preferred new policy is too dissimilar from the old one.
