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Part of my duties here at RustyBrick is to manage the employee benefits. I always find it a bit comical, in describing health insurance as a "benefit." To me, health insurance is more like a mandatory tax you pay to large corporations who increase your rates 25% every single year, with no remorse. But health insurance is necessary and that is why I have to deal with it in the company. I just hate dealing with it.
Every year, without fail, we get the renewal notice, letting us know our rates are increasing about 25%. Of course, the letter just shows the new rates, so you have to check to see what the current payments are - but it is always about 25%. So then we often find a new plan, with less coverage to try to minimize the costs. It just is not a fun process.
As someone who had to deal with insurance companies not wanting to pay, it makes things even more frustrating. I pay these huge premiums each month and when insurance is suppose to kick in, there are always issues or loopholes or something.
At RustyBrick, I keep the employees very involved in the process. This year, we switched to a solution that lets the employees pick from a number of options. Everyone, yes, everyone, picked the HSA (health savings account) option. It has a large deductible but you can save on the premium and put that money to a special bank account, pre-tax, to pay for medical bills. It gives you more flexibility and control over your medical expenses, but it is not like anything we are currently familiar with. So technically, we have an insurance plan with a large deductible. When the deductible is met (which we hope it is not), the insurance company will pay. So what do you do until you hit the deductible? Well, you can use the funds in the HSA to pay for those medical bills (again, pre tax).
I like the idea of HSAs, because why pay the higher premiums, when we typically do not use it. And if we use it, I calculated that for a family, it still saves us $4,000 or so per year, per family. Yes, if we pay the full deductible, we get the same coverage we had before (minus the deductible) and still save $4,000 per family per year.
In any event, I just hate dealing with this every year. I wish there was some better solution, but currently there is not. Each year, it gets worse and worse. I know the President is looking to fix the issue, but I don't think anyone I know is confident in his plan. But we all do agree, something has to change.
Barry Schwartz is the CEO of RustyBrick, a New York Web service firm specializing in customized online technology that helps companies decrease costs and increase sales. Barry is also the founder of the Search Engine Roundtable and the News Editor of Search Engine Land. He is well known & respected for his expertise in the search marketing industry. Barry graduated from the City University of New York and lives with his family in the NYC region.
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