An article from Market Watch highlights Rick Lindquist and Paul Zane Pilzer, co-authors of “The End of Employer-Provided Health Insurance.” The book goes over why group health insurance is a thing of the past and why individuals, their families, and their employers are all benefiting from moving away from group health insurance options.
Group health insurance rates continue to rise and that’s where Zane Benefits steps in. Zane Benefits is not a health insurance company, but a company that administers defined-contribution plans. What is that you might be asking? It is a benefit plan that gives employees a set amount of money each month that they can use for reimbursement of their health insurance premiums. This plan allows employees to have choice in selecting their health insurance plan. The employer is removed from the selection and allows the employee to shop for an insurance plan that custom fits them and their family.
In Lindquist and Pilzer’s book they project that by 2017, the majority of small businesses will switch to defined-contribution. This shift is being led by small business owners, but they aren’t the only ones dropping health insurance and looking for other options. Verizon and AT&T leaked documents saying they were considering dropping health insurance plans as well.
With the potential savings benefit of this plan why wouldn’t all companies choose this option. Well simply said, you don’t know what you don’t know. Companies don’t understand how a defined-contribution plan could benefit them, not only savings on the part of the employer and the employee, but also helps employee retention as well. What employee wouldn’t want to choose their own health insurance rather than have somebody choose for them?
Read the full Market Watch article HERE and let me know if this is an option you would look into for your company!