New opportunities for small business planning
(This post is speculative based on an announcement that is expected in the near future. The content is therefore valid only if regulations are changed as predicted).
Later this week the Trump administration is expected to roll back range of restrictive regulations on health insurance that will open the door to new opportunities for saving. These are actuarial principles that Freedom Benefits has endorsed since the 1980s.
The core concept is shockingly refreshing: small businesses should focus on serving the immediate needs of their most productive workers. The new regulations allow and even encourage small business employers from trying to solve all of our ailing health car system’s woes. That means giving up and releasing outlier health care risks. It means analyzing and addressing the core medical needs of your small group of employees.
The new plans will make broad use of short term medical insurance for new or transient employees who do not have pre-existing medical conditions. This one change can save an average of half of the insurance cost compared to Obamacare era health plans.
Small businesses will again be attracted to limited benefit mini-med insurance that focus on the “sweet spot” of medical costs incurred by the majority of employees. The most important difference is that they eliminate the deductibles that employees hate. These plans are priced at least 15% lower than traditional major medical plans but have some glaring holes in coverage, like prescription drugs
, that some people have come to expect. Fortunately today’s flexible small business health plans like those offered by Freedom Benefits allow individual employees can weigh the pros and cons on an individual basis.
High tech, construction and agricultural businesses that traditionally rely on temporary international workers will save money by using insurance that is specifically designed for inbound immigrants.
Most importantly
, employers will be empowered to design health benefits that are independent of insurance companies. Health Reimbursement Arrangements, Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Spending Accounts will play a larger role for employers who want to take control and directly address employees’ health care concerns. Freedom Benefits offerers these customized plans on an affordable basis that fit the budget of small business employers.