Am I Losing My Employees Over Healthcare?

A solid healthcare plan is a make or break deal for employees deciding whether to take a job or stay at their current place of employment.

But, with the various types of coverage most employers provide, sometimes having poor employee health care is worse than no health care at all. Obamacare aside, how should companies structure their plans and what should potential and current employees look for when it comes to companies meeting their healthcare needs?

For Employers

Companies choosing to provide healthcare insurance may do so for various reasons. Whether it’s an aging workforce or lost productivity due to employee illness, a good healthcare plan could be the difference between a quality employee staying or calling it quits.

With this is mind, there are a few guidelines to follow for those companies without health care that want to make a change as well as companies with existing plans that need to improve their benefits.

Coverage – Companies first need to figure out what type of coverage they want to offer their employees. Many factors come into consideration with types of coverage including cost to the company and general employee health.

Employees to Include – Another important aspect for employers to consider when choosing a health care plan is which employees to cover. This is a point of contention for companies with part-time workers on staff.

Eligibility – Not all employees are eligible for health care coverage, which should be taken into consideration when choosing a company plan. Employees that smoke or have preexisting conditions may not be eligible. Fortunately, there are Preexisting Condition Insurance Plans for those employees with poor health histories.

For the Employee

From the employees’ perspective, there are certain things to look out for in terms of company health care plans that are lacking.

High Co-pays – If employees find themselves skipping medical care due to the high co-pays, the company plan might not be that beneficial. High co-pays are only saving the employer money in regards to health care deductibles.

Limited Provider Network – Considering company health care plans are tailored to a diverse group of employees as opposed to individuals, specific healthcare providers are usually out-of-network. This is problematic for those employees with health requirements that call for specialists.

Preferred Provider – Company healthcare plans that don’t include a preferred provider option could end up costing the employee a ton in out-of-pocket expenses. Especially for employees that travel for work, company healthcare plans should have coverage anywhere in the country.

Preventative Care – An employee that has to pay out-of-pocket for preventative care visits like common checkups might need to get on their own plan of find a new job.

As far as other red flags that employees should look for with company health care, any plan that doesn’t cover nursing services, prescription drugs, emergency care, hospital incidentals, diagnostic care, or childbirth probably isn’t worth basing a decision on.

With Obamacare fast approaching, an entirely new set of guidelines will emerge, but the pointers above are always a great place to start when taking quality company healthcare into consideration.