Facing New Burdens
At
money.cnn.com, a concerned citizen is advised to feel free to switch jobs, though her child has a pre-diagnosed condition, because the law known as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) should protect her. But what the article doesn't say is that
small business health insurance has been so beset by costs in the last 10 years that high premiums will be the result of such a switch.
It's true that legally switching insurance should be easy. "One of the main purposes of HIPAA was and is to allow employees to change jobs without losing health coverage - that is, to end the phenomenon of 'job lock,' where people were in effect locked into a job by the fear of giving up those benefits."
But the truth is that someone has to pay for the burden of healthcare costs, and small business health insurance is often the place where those costs get shifted around. Sometimes coverage is attained at very high cost to the employee, including high premiums or out-of-pocket expenses. At other times, costs will go up for everyone on the job.
A company's obligation to cover everyone - including those who bring expensive pre-existing conditions with them into a new job - often means that every employee has to pay a little more, no matter how healthy he or she may be.
And there's little that business owners can do. With the high price of prescription drug use, and for healthcare in general, the difference between keeping the business running and not often comes down to health insurance.
Facts on:
Small Business Health Insurance
Did you know...
Sometimes coverage is attained at very high cost to the employee, including high premiums or out-of-pocket expenses?
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One solution could be supplemental health insurance. With supplemental coverage employees must still pay more, but they'll be covered in more dangerous situations as well.
And if the employer's insurance doesn't cover family, there's also separate
family health insurance that can be purchased. Regardless, in today's health insurance market there are options to be had, but they require shopping around, and a good understanding of exactly what coverage you'll need, and how much you can afford to pay.
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