We're a small software company that is growing, and we're in hiring mode. We want to be competitive in our job offers, and were wondering what everyone else is doing. Right now, we cover the employee only, and he/she is out of pocket for family coverage. What are you doing in your business, and do you foresee any changes in the near future as costs continue to rise?
Who do you cover on your Health Plan?
Answers
It all boils down to two words......."company values". My experience is 100% of employee and 50-75% of dependents.
We cover:
PPO - Employee at 80%, dependents at 70%
High Deductible Plan - Employee at 90%, dependents at 80%
Because we have a large disparity in compensation levels across the company, we have also instituted a discount off the employee share for classes of employees that include our lower earners (roughly half the company).
At these levels, the company is fairly indifferent to the employee's choice of plans. According to carrier figures, net utilization rates for the two plans are similar so we do not use contribution rates to direct plan choice.
All that said, contribution percentages can be very misleading since plan terms vary greatly. Covering 100% of premiums sounds great but is less impressive when you find out the deductible is $10,000. We used to provide a flat 75% employer subsidy but modified that to the multi-tiered process outlined above when rates continued to rise. Key in that transition was that we continued to tweak deductibles and co-insurance limits, which have the effect of pushing a greater % of costs to the employee even as the company's actual $ contribution soared. I had one employee complain when his 10% contribution increased 40% ... $4 from $10 to $14 per check, while the company share increased $36. For that reason, I think it's better to speak in terms of $ contribution from the employer which in our case ranges from $6k to nearly $17k.
50% of single coverage of preferred plan, the amount that you still get if you pick a lower plan. Everything else is on you. We decided to give people more salary instead of better benefit coverage. So far they seem fine with that.
We cover 100% of Kaiser (HMO-A) premium rate for Admin employees & dependents. 100% of employee Kaiser premium rate and 80% of dependent premium for Maint employees.
Due to escalating costs, I've long cautioned that this is not sustainable. Not only have we been hit with 10% annual premium increases, our workforce is aging as well pushing them up even more.
But, president who is a beneficiary of this largess - wants 100% coverage for herself and family. Our costs this year average better than $14,000/employee.
The only thing worse is our retirement plan.
Your
We cover 100% of employees & family of a high deductible plan and offer an HSA with the option of a buy up plan for a different group of health professionals.
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Human Capital