As small business owners, the question of healthcare can often seem like one that doesn't matter. When you start your company off and it's just you and your spouse, and every dollar counts twice over, the idea seems nice but impossible (granted, if you plan to stay that small, it becomes doable over time). Slowly, you start adding employees, trying to grow without exceeding your means. In time, you find yourself larger than you thought you would be, and the question comes up by more applicants in job interviews. So what do you do?
As a long time employee's wife, my first thought has always been, give us the benefits! We want medical insurance! However, once we started our own company, I came to realize the financial challenges more and more small business owners face. Furthermore, after the Walmart insurance lawsuit, radio commentator Dave Ramsey made the point when he noted that it was his business, he started it, and nothing was owed. He went on to explain that he does offer his employees some form of health insurance but he does not pay for all of it.
I've put a great deal of thought into medical insurance lately, and I've come to a few conclusions. One of the biggest struggles I am having is over the fact that I am pregnant - and pregnancy is considered a pre-existing condition. This means that, since we didn't have insurance before we were pregnant, we are not covered. On top of that, as we re-enter the world of the employee, we have had two very lucrative job offers. One of them comes with full benefits, and one of them comes with a reimbursement plan. Guess which one I'm leaning towards as I look down the road six months?
After all of this agonizing, I have come to believe that some benefits are better than none. I told my husband last week that if the job we really wanted paid only 5% of our benefits - just enough to get me in the doctor's office - there would be no debate. Obviously, there are other factors involved, but the benefits are a huge one. Furthermore, we have other children, and any good parent knows that children automatically come with medical bills; the two are more compatible than peanut butter and jelly.
My husband and I spoke with the company owners regarding our debate (this is a small company of less than forty employees, obviously), and they indicated that they were already considering the problem. In a high-turnover industry, they were trying to figure out ways to keep their employees happy. This is obviously an intelligent company; they realize that happy employees not only stick around longer, but also are more productive. They also wanted to talk to me, although they were hiring my husband, because they realized the necessity of support at home. Those two qualities say a lot about the workings of the company, tipping the scale back in their favor. But I am still hoping for a tiny smidgen of insurance to smooth the way.
Medical insurance costs have become quite obscene, especially as you get older or less healthy. The restrictions companies put on who they cover have also become difficult to stumble through. Offering even a portion of benefits will go a long way to creating happy employees who want to stick around, which will, in turn, help raise your bottom line. The odds are that these relationships will more than cover the cost of benefits over the course of your company's lifetime.
