Re: insurance for employees

[Guest guest]

I have my company health insurance through a small business affiliation -- they're considered a "not for profit" brokerage, but they get a small commission.

Works out well, and I get help selecting plans.

Local Chamber of Commerce also a good place to look for this.

Many plans will insist that a certain percentage of full-timers will need to have the health insurance to be a "group" -- you want this, so no preexisting, and lower costs.

It works OK in terms of how to do this, as the business can give a base amount (tax deductable to the business) and the rest of the premium would be paid by the individual.

Lots of rules, use the broker to intercede for you.

Good luck, talk more off list if you want, as I figured this all out about 4 years ago, and it took some time.

Matt Levin, MD

Solo FP in Western PA

dr-levin@...

insurance for employees

Being a medical provider and a medical practice, feel it is my responsilibility to provide medical insurance for our one employee. I have two partners in my practice, one of whom also does not have medical insurance.

Any suggestions on how to go about trying to get a good price/ package for insurance? I'm on my husband's work insurance and have always just gotten insurance through a job, so have no ideas about how to go about any of this.

I work in Washington state if that is important.

Thanks.

Weakland

Ballard Neighborhood Doctors

[Guest guest]

Agree with Chamber of Commerce option in some places.

Our 4 chambers in the valley banded together to get a good rate for its members.

We use it and are happy.

If it's just the one employee, a consideration would be to do what we do.

We offer up to $300/month toward insurance -- a single med tech pays less than $300 per month, so doesn't get the difference, she basically gets all of her insurance covered.

The married w/ family staff person pays about $25 per month out of her paycheck each month -- the other $300 covered by the business.

Also, be aware -- for larger businesses, it sometimes works out to " self insure " -- not totally but in this sense.

Sometimes the difference between the $500 deductible or the $1500 deductible is enough that the office can offer to pay for the extra $1000 in deductible, but still save money.

Sometimes the difference in premiums for a business (say, if the business was paying all the premiums for the employee) for the higher deductible is more than the cost of paying the difference to the patient for the higher dedutible.

I'm not sure if that makes sense -- the way I describe it - but the idea is -- you might save $3,000 in premiums for the year but the risk is $4,000 -- but the odds that all the employees use up their extra deductible the same year is small, so you only end up paying $2,500 -- and the business saves $500.

Also, remember, the employee would still pay for the first $500, so there is still s disincentive to overuse care.

Just a thought.

Locke, MD

Being a medical provider and a medical practice, feel it is my responsilibility to provide medical insurance for our one employee. I have two partners in my practice, one of whom also does not have medical insurance.

Any suggestions on how to go about trying to get a good price/ package for insurance? I'm on my husband's work insurance and have always just gotten insurance through a job, so have no ideas about how to go about any of this.

I work in Washington state if that is important.

Thanks.

Weakland

Ballard Neighborhood Doctors