Skyrocketing Health Insurance Costs For Small Businesses

Written by Mary Nelson Zadrozny
© 2004-2006 Just Imagine Design & Publicatons

If you have good health insurance coverage at a reasonable cost, be very, very thankful. This is an issue that affects many small businesses and continues to become more of a concern each year as costs rise rapidly. Combined with the sluggish economy and the vast number of issues vying for our legislators' attention, this problem does not look like it is going to improve any time soon.

Just a few years ago I was paying $150.00 a month for comprehensive coverage. However, double digit premium increases for 5 consecutive years now have caused the monthly amount to balloon up to $561.00.* And the really sad part is that the coverage itself has been drastically altered so things that use to be covered are no longer covered plus additional expenses have been added for each and every service. When my coverage was $150.00, my copay for an office visit was $5. Now the copay is $20, plus $20 for each lab test. Previously most prescriptions cost just a $5 copay, but now there is a “tier program” and a $100 deductible. A recent doctor visit resulted in over $300 in prescriptions but my insurance paid just $9.

*UPDATE TO THIS ARTICLE: I recently asked for and qualified for an insurance policy for small businesses which reduced my monthly premium by over 50%. I did have to prepare and file a lot of paperwork in order to get approved but it was well worth it.

If you are not covered under a spouse’s benefit plan or some other type of insurance, what are your options?

1. You can go without coverage. A sad statistic in this country is that an estimated 45 million Americans are without health insurance. And 60% of those people are small business owners.

2. You can purchase coverage directly from an insurance company. Make sure you specifically ask if they offer any plans for Small Businesses/Sole Proprietors that you can try to qualify for. My insurance company didn't tell me about this program up front, I had to ask about it after I saw an article in the newspaper.

3. You can purchase a plan through another organization (Chamber of Commerce, Music Unions, Professional Art Groups, Small Business Benefit Providers, etc.) if you qualify. Contact your local chamber of commerce or check your phone book for companies that assist people in finding insurance plans.

4. Check if your state government has programs that provide low cost insurance or some type of insurance assistance. In New York state there is a program called Healthy NY for those without insurance but there are restrictions such as you have to have been uninsured for at least 1 year.

   If you live in New York State, you can check www.nyshmoguide.org. It offers a guide for consumers to compare HMO's on the basis of price and performance.

5. Other places to find insurance information:
   One of the best resources I’ve seen for finding insurance information is www.ahirc.org. This is not just for actors. It has all kinds of information organized by state.

   www.craftsreport.com/resources/insurance.html Large listing of resources for artists and craftspeople

   www.nase.org National Association for the Self-Employed

   www.nfib.com The National Federation of Independent Business (Look under “Issues” and then “Health Care” category.

   www.healthinsuranceinfo.net Created by Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, it provides Consumer Guides on Health Insurance for each of the 50 states in the US.

   www.ahrq.gov Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

   www.insurancejournal.com News, articles, forums and resources about the insurance industry.

   www.hiaa.org Health Insurance Association of America provides on-line guides in their Consumer Information Section such as "Guide to Health Insurance", "The Insurance Guide for Business Owners", plus several others.

   http://covertheuninsured.org/ Help for those with no health insurance.

6. Other things you can do to help improve the situation:

   Write to your representatives, state insurance departments, and business organizations to encourage changes to our health care system.

   I believe all of us are entitled to quality medical coverage at a reasonable price with some type of cap on rate increases so that we can budget our expenses accordingly.