Employees are the most vital component for any Colorado based small business’s success. What employers have had brought to light in recent years is just how important it is to take care of employees needs when it comes to their physical and mental health. Just as it is important to keep your company’s equipment updated and maintained, it is even more important to do the same for your employees. Reliable (source) data is showing that as of the beginning of 2022 U.S. worker burnout rates remained high at 61%. This extremely high rate of burnout quickly translates into dissatisfaction with the employer. When that happens, people leave their jobs, as we have seen happen in significant numbers over the last two years.
Employers cannot control certain outside factors, like COVID-19, that significantly contribute to stress and prohibit productivity, but they can focus on making sure that their business health insurance benefits are robust and are being used properly to help treat their employees physical and mental issues before they become problematic. If you are a Colorado small business owner and you have concerns about the affordability of small business health insurance, but you want to have robust benefits that can help your employees avoid burnout, health issues and possibly even paid medical leave you need to look at two options for your business. One is called an ICHRA it is an acronym for individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement, the other is called a self-funded plan.
Let’s start with an ICHRA, this type of coverage has two distinct advantages. The first being that it gives complete cost control to the employer. The small business owner can choose any monthly dollar amount they want, to put toward the employee’s monthly health insurance premiums. The employee can then choose from over 100 health insurance plan options and choose the one that has the benefits that help them the most. The other option is a self-funded plan. This option gives the small business owner the ability to offer better health insurance benefits because they can get an annual refund on their monthly premiums which lowers their overall expenses for their small business health insurance costs. With a self-funded plan, a portion of the employees monthly premiums go into an account, that is managed by the health insurance company. These funds are used to pay for any employee claims that exceed their deductibles. If any portion of these funds are not used, then the money goes back to the small business in the form of a refund. It can also be rolled over to the next year.
This kind of savings can allow the business owner to include mental health benefits. Burnout is directly related to an employee’s mental health and 43% of U.S workers have stated they have noticed a decline in their mental health since the inception of COVID. It can also allow a small business to provide benefits like, zero-dollar telehealth visits, this is a convenient way to ensure that your employees can get appointments and treatment right away for their health issues before they become bigger problems. There are even plans available today that include acupuncture benefits. Acupuncture treats many stress-related problems like PTSD and depression without relying on pharmaceuticals.
When a small business health insurance Colorado program has benefits that show employees how much they are valued but also provide practical help to keep employees happy and productive, everyone wins. The business attracts and keeps top talent, the employees stay happy and productive and having the right employee benefits package is the tool that drives the right results.
