Providing health insurance for employees is not a legal requirement, except under certain conditions in the states of Massachusetts and Hawaii. However, while a business owner may look upon this as an opportunity to save costs, failure to provide healthcare insurance could be a false economy.
Health insurance is a major outlay for any small- and medium-sized business, but there are some hidden benefits that could make sound business sense. Business owners who don’t offer healthcare benefits could find themselves at a disadvantage in their respective industries.
1. Your Business Could Be Perceived as a Second-Rate Employer
A business exists to sell either services or products in the marketplace, but a business is also in the market itself - for employees. The fight for the most experienced, best-qualified staff is fierce indeed, and in cases where a required skill set or experience portfolio is in high demand, a business that offers Columbus group health insurance benefits will have a clear and distinct advantage. Skipping health insurance for employees could leave a company with a relatively inexperienced, poorly-qualified workforce–something that can have far-reaching consequences for its commercial viability.
2. Your Business Could Miss Out on Tax Breaks
From a completely selfish point of view, a business can treat employees’ health insurance costs as a tax-deductible expense. A business can benefit from a deduction of 100 percent of employees’ insurance costs for tax purposes, and if that business is incorporated, the owner’s insurance costs are also tax-deductible.
3. You Could Be Faced with Higher Employee Absenteeism
Many health insurance plans provide people with programs of preventative care and wellness, and this can promote healthy lifestyles and workplace practices. These programs, combined with an annual physical, could identify stress, repetitive strain, and a whole host of other work-related health issues before they result in long spells of absence.
Of course, there are some headaches involved with providing health insurance for employees. Although one of the aims of the much-maligned Affordable Care Act is to drive down the overall cost of healthcare in the U.S., health insurance is still a very costly benefit to provide at a time when many companies are struggling to survive. This added benefit also presents extra administrative costs, which can be burdensome for small companies. However, it is clear that a business that can provide health insurance as a benefit of employment stands to receive the goodwill of its employees and the inevitable increase in productivity that will result.