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In case you have just come out of a cave and have not been paying attention to the news lately, there are massive Obamacare premium hikes in 2017. To be clear, they are in the double digits and look much like 20 to almost 25%, and in some states closer to 50%. If that doesn’t get your dander up nothing will. The promise of affordability for a disproportionate amount of your employees and fellow small business owners is now officially rescinded. There is much ado about what to do in order to make healthcare more affordable for small business owners and the self-employed in 2017. From the practical to the ridiculous, media outlets such as Money magazine and independent bloggers are spilling advice on to the Internet in an effort to try and calms fears (realities).

What Obamacare Premium Hikes In 2017 Mean For You

What most won’t say with a lot of gusto is that the majority of men and women paying for the already expensive Obamacare premiums are small business owners and the otherwise self-employed. Those who make too much for free healthcare but are not working for businesses who are paying the lion’s share of their healthcare expenses are the ones who find themselves in this predicament by and large. Your Employees Have Other Expenses Besides Healthcare - The other group of individuals who are in need of these kinds of benefits are those who are working part-time and employees who are employed by small business owners who are not in a position to offer small group health insurance plans. These are the ones who suffer the most financially when it comes to affordable health care. With employers paying them a little more to buy their own coverage, most are finding it hardly makes a dent in the actual expenses when you consider they are paying anywhere from $450 to over $1,400 per month in premiums, only to have a deductible that can be an upwards of nearly $10,000 dollars before any healthcare benefits kick in at all. How affordable is that? If you thought last year was painful for them to buy their own coverage, those premiums are going up. Are you going to be able to pay them even more to meet the new health insurance premium demands? The new ACA health plan rates are now published on the exchange. They start at over $1,000 per month minimum. When it comes to rent and raising a family, it is easy to see how this doesn’t work any more. Top Talent Will Go Elsewhere Before Going Uninsured - With all the media coverage on the unaffordability of Obamacare premium hikes in 2017, you can bet any candidates for open positions at your business will be factoring this into their decision making when it comes to their next employer. Unless you want to pay the average new employee next year about $17,000 to $20,000 more than you did before, you are going to have to get real about what you can really offer a great candidate who can easily be working for a large employer that is paying a large portion of their healthcare expenses and for better benefit coverage at that. What about the employees you already have? How they will be able to afford their ACA exchange benefits? This is going to help them make a decision as to whether or not they can feasibly continue working for you. Good employees walking out the door over financial issues around health care coverage is a heartbreaking reason to see them leave your company.

What You Can Do About Obamacare Premium Hikes In 2017

Look, whether you planned for it or not, you are going to be paying more for employees and to retain them and it all stems around their very real need to keep up with their (not so) affordable health care expenses in 2017. Once you get your mind around that, the next logical step is figuring out how to handle it. Considering a PEO in this open enrollment season may very well be the best move you can make in being able to offer you and your employees affordable benefits this year. A PEO is so much more than real affordable health care. It means, payroll and payroll tax management, labor law compliance and a solid HR team behind you and your employees. For the cost of up to 40% less for health care benefits, you get all this. You can say goodbye to rising small business health care premiums and the extra expense of payroll management for one low cost. Trust me, the extra you’d have to pay your employees to keep them is ridiculously more than what it would cost to work with a PEO and forget about the expenses and headaches. What does it take to work with a PEO? I’m glad you asked. A short phone call will tell you all you need to know. Is it worth it to your bottom line next year to find out? Only you can answer that.

If you’d like to find out more about how PEOs can help you provide great benefits and payroll management at less than you are paying now, contact us today for a free consultation.

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