Group medical insurance is a type of health insurance being offered by many small business owners for their employees. This insurance is employer-sponsored which covers self employed business owners as well as their employees and families. This type of insurance has become very popular and the majority of Americans are covered by this type of medical coverage. You may think this is strange since businesses are known for finding ways around giving medical insurance to their employees in order to save money. Well, President Obama figured this much and that is why he signed the 2010 Health Care Reform Bill. This is a fabulous piece of legislation that guarantees tax incentives for small business owners that offer group medical insurance to their employees. It also guarantees that employees will not be turned down for healthcare coverage based on a preexisting medical condition.
Group medical health insurance is great for employees because their employer pays 50% of their insurance premiums every month. Not only that, but employers may also pay some of the dependent premiums of their employees. Employers that want to provide health insurance to their employees will find that group medical insurance gives the best incentives to both parties. Sure there are some small business owners that would rather not provide any medical insurance coverage to their employees. Then they can just hire part time employees so they don’t have to pay them any benefits. Although this is legal, it is unethical. Plus, studies show that the best employees for a company are happy employees. If an employee goes to work every day and feels secure in their position then they will do a good job for their employer.
With all of the tax deductions given, there are still some small businesses that are against this medical plan. For one thing it extends the coverage of dependants until they are 26 years old. This means the premium costs for the employer will last a lot longer because the dependent coverage for children now extends beyond 18 years old. Even with all the special tax deductions, some employers don’t feel they are worth it. So now employers are hiring fewer people and cutting their work time to 29 hours a week. That way the employees fall just below full time status and the employer doesn’t have to pay them benefits. In a bad economy, who is going to complain? People are desperate for work. However, the economy is starting to get better and that means employers not paying benefits will eventually lose employees. Group medical insurance may cut into profits, but it will make employees happy and that usually helps a company’s productivity in the long run.
