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Show .iesEirsiece to Meeof -raises By KENNETH J. ROSE " .Editor's Note: Bottom Line au-, au-, thor Kenneth J. Rose is the owner " of Rose and Associates, a small business tax consulting and financial finan-cial planning firm in Bountiful Xast week we looked at health insurance in-surance premiums as a tax deduc- tion and introduced the idea of offering health insurance as an employee em-ployee benefit in lieu of your next pay increase. Becaise health insurance insur-ance premiums aren't subject -to 1 payroll taxes, you could end up paying pay-ing less in the long run and it will generally make your employees happier. Be careful as you shop for health insurance coverage, though. Health insurance tends to be -one of the most confusing products for the average consumer to buy. The reason is that each company offers the product in a slightly different way. It is hard to compare the coverages. ;l. .;r,.r"v wv-. :- ' Some factors do tend to remain the same, though. Watch for them . and you may be able to get some good comparison between the plans. Most health insurance plans, both individual' and group, have r some kind of a deductible ranging anywhere from $100 on up. Many plans apply the deductible on an annual basis, usually calendar year, but some plans have a per occuren- - ce deductible similar to your auto insurance. Make sure you know which one you are getting. Most group plans will require that a certain percentage of your eligible employees participate in the plan. The percentage will vary from company to company, but ask the insurance agent . Also, you don't necessarily have to pay all of the premiums. You could adopt a plan where the employer em-ployer only pays part of the premiums pre-miums for the employees and de ducts the balance from their wages. . The insurance company will gen-. eraDy require that the employer pay ' a minimum percentage of the premium pre-mium for it to qualify as a bona fide group. Again, check with the agent v for the exact percentage that you . will be required to pay. i The size of the. group will vary . from plan to plan as welt Some J groups can qualify with only one employee, while others require a. higher number. Generally the larger the group, the better the rates on the ; premiums. t You can generally establish the eligibility requirements ; yourself, usually based on the status in terms . of the number of hours worked each week and length of service. Many employers, for example, with high employee turnover due to seasonal or irregular work flows, may want to set a minimum work period of perhaps 90 days to make sure that - they do not put employees on the . insurance plan who will only be there for a short wWl& r; . . Check with, several companies and spend some time in the process. Don't let premiums be the only factor fac-tor you consider. A company with poor claims processing can be just as frustrating to you and your employees em-ployees and could irritate you even . : more than paying slightly higher premiums. '; .' . If you aren't sure what your employees em-ployees would want, present the idea to them in your next employee meeting. You don't have to give them the decision making authority to select a plan. Just ask them if they would be interested in a plan if it were offered. They would probably proba-bly appreciate you considering their opinion. As always, if you have questions, check with a professional. Asking doesn't obligate you to buy and it could avoid a lot of problems later. |