Employers essentially have three ways to combat rising health costs: change carriers, change coverage or change (i.e., increase) workers’ contributions. And each of these options can seriously hurt workers’ morale.
Because the little guys are negotiating with small risk pools, they’re hit especially hard by increases.
That means many small firms are left with little choice but to pass along more of the cost burden to employees. Here are morale-saving ways to do it:
Good for high-earners, but …
Offering and partially funding tax-advantaged accounts like HSAs, HRAs and FSAs can go a long way toward helping workers with out-of-pocket costs and high deductibles.
But there are plenty of obstacles. Example: High-deductible plans coupled with HSAs and HRAs tend to go over well with high-earners.
Low-earners, however, tend to balk at fully funding tax-advantaged accounts, which can leave them in the lurch when a major medical event takes place.
To prevent this, show folks exactly how much they can save in taxes. Example: If you fully fund an FSA ($2,550 for ’15) and spend that amount, you’re saving $800 or $900.
Click here to entire article.
No comments:
Post a Comment