Employee Health Insurance – The Most Sought-After Benefit

What do employees want most?  Health insurance!  A new survey about what workers desire most from their jobs recently confirmed what human resources have long known, that group or small business health insurance tops the list of desired benefits.  Employees are even willing to work for less money if family health insurance is part of the benefits package.

Whether they are covered by a large group health insurance plan or a small business insurance plan, employees consider health insurance as a source of peace, knowing that their family is protected medically should anything happen.  At the same time, employee health care coverage has become a huge cost for employers, averaging over $4200 for individuals and $11,000 for families in 2006. 

Few companies are covering the full cost of health insurance benefits anymore; in fact, employees are being asked to contribute more each year towards the cost of their health insurance, especially as costs continue to rise each year.  Still, most find a way to do so, knowing that they and their families are better off with health insurance than not.

Companies with as few as three employees, and as many as 50 employees, qualify to purchase insurance under guidelines for small business health insurance.  In addition to keeping employees happy, there are many tax benefits which help defray the cost of health insurance.  There are also many ways to save money on small business health insurance, with just a little bit of effort. 

If you own a business and have to choose between larger pay increases and maintaining health care coverage for your employees and their families, don’t assume that larger raises would be everyone’s first choice.  Make sure to let your employees know the cost your company pays for their small business health insurance coverage; it will surprise many of them to see just how much it costs, and give them one more reason to be happy on your team.