Medical Insurance Blog

New Tax Credits For Small Employers Providing Medical Insurance

Medical Insurance coverage legislation enacted this year includes a Small Business Health Care Tax Credit to help small businesses and small tax-exempt organizations afford the cost of covering their workers.

Small businesses and tax-exempt organizations that provide health insurance coverage for employees may now qualify for a special tax credit, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IR-2010-38, April 1, 2010).

The maximum small business tax credits are:

• Eligible small businesses - The maximum credit is 35% of premiums paid in 2010
• Eligible tax-exempt organizations - The maximum is 25% of premiums paid.

These maximum credits are scheduled to increase in 2014

Eligible small businesses can claim the credit as part of the general business credit starting with the 2010 income tax return they file in 2011 (the IRS will provide information for tax exempt organizations later).

Click Here For Three Simple Steps for Employers to Qualify For

The Small Business Health Insurance Tax Credits

 

Benefits of Medical Health Insurance for the Self-Employed

When you decide to enter the exciting world of self-employment you have to be ready for anything. Along with being your own boss come all the responsibilities of each and every aspect of your business. This will of course include finding adequate health insurance coverage for yourself. 

While multi-tasking may not always be the easiest thing to do, it is a responsibility that comes with owning your own business. That said, it is better to try to find coverage sooner rather than later. Don't have the attitude of, "I'll get to it soon enough," as this type of delay can be met with disastrous results.  

First of all, you never know what life is going to throw your way and should something happen to you while you are uninsured, you may risk losing everything that you have worked so hard for. Secondly, if all goes as planned with your new business venture you will only grow busier as the days pass and finding time for anything will be a challenge. So what do you look for and where do you look? 

To start with you will probably want to look at what is known as a general coverage plan which will have most, if not all, of the coverage's you had with your former employer's health plan. As far as where to look you have a couple of options including: 

• Online: There a number of websites that are dedicated to helping self-employed people find good health insurance coverage. Many sites will actually do a comparison of several insurance companies and this will allow you to take your time and see which company will give you the most bang for your buck. Try www.BestHealthcareRates.com.
  
• An Insurance agent: You may also find help through your personal insurance agent. While some agents will not handle the self-employed at the very least they should be able to point you in the right directing of an agent who can help.

Remember that not all health insurance plans are the same and many types of coverage's will vary from state to state. A good rule of thumb is to look through your old insurance policy while conducting research online or bring it with you when visiting your agent. This will allow you to match coverage as best you can and may keep you from leaving out certain coverage's by oversight. 

There is only one thing that is better than being self-employed; being self-employed with good health insurance coverage. Don't wait to get health insurance coverage, make it the first item on your list of to-dos. Otherwise you could be unknowingly setting yourself up for personal and financial disaster. 

Fear Not – Medical Insurance for Small Businesses Is Worth It!

Medical insurance - are there two more dreaded words that can be spoken to a small business owner? Small business medical insurance, however, offers numerous benefits and tax advantages that make it well worth the cost of premiums.

Medical insurance for employees of small businesses is a hot button issue. Approximately 45 million U.S. residents do not have medical insurance. Of those, about 20 million are employees, or a family member of an employee, of a business that has 50 or fewer employees. For companies that have more than 50 employees, more than 96% of workers have medical insurance. That number is only about 43% for small businesses.

What accounts for this phenomenon? You hear over and over again that employee medical insurance is one of the biggest expenses that a business owner faces. What exactly, though, are those expenses? The business owner is required to pay a percentage of the employee's individual premium. Typically this percentage ranges between 25% and 50%. If coverage is extended to the employee's family members, the employer cannot elect, but is not required, to also pay a percentage of those premiums.

In addition, small businesses typically must pay larger premiums than businesses with more than 50 employees. State requirements that certain conditions, treatments and providers be covered by the group health insurance policy is another reason that small business medical insurance can be costly.  

Small business medical insurance applies to businesses that employ between 2 to 50 people. Any permanent, compensated employee that works at least 25 hours per week is typically eligible to enroll in a small business health plan.  
 
Despite the costs, small business medical insurance has very real benefits. When you're able to offer health insurance to job applicants, you are guaranteed to have a more talented pool of candidates to choose from. As we're reminded of daily in the news, quality medical insurance is a major concern for Americans. 

Retention is another benefit of small business medical insurance. It costs you less to retain an employee than to seek out and train a new employee. If your employees are getting medical insurance from you, they won't jump ship to take a job with another employer simply to obtain medical insurance.

Last but absolutely not least, a healthy employee is a more productive employee. Having healthy employees, like the retention issue mentioned above, saves you money. When an employee is out on a paid sick day, you're shelling out the cash without getting any of the work. So although you're paying part of your employees' premiums, you're saving money in other areas by offering medical insurance.

Save With A HSA Qualified Health Insurance Plans

Since first being signed into law in December 2003 by the Federal Government, Health Savings Accounts are already a proven “hit” & are here to stay. They are literally available to every legal adult in the United States.

 

Knowledge is power when it comes to your finances. Medical Insurance has now become the newest form of an investment vehicle offering tremendous financial & tax benefits. Today, opening a Health Savings Account in partnership with an HSA qualified medical insurance plan offers many special financial advantages. And for the most part, they are simple to understand.

A Health Savings Account enables consumers to:

·        Maintain access to a wide PPO network and in most cases provides coverage for seeing your current doctors and specialists.

·        Lower your health insurance premium by 25% – 50%. One can typically save between 80 to 250 dollars per month when they change their plan over from a traditional health insurance plan to a HSA qualified high deductible health plan. Now don’t be deceived. Yes, you’ll now have a high deductible, but there are plenty of safety nets to protect you if necessary. The first step to take is to place monies saved from your new lower premium into your Health Savings Account. This doesn’t cost you anymore than what you were paying before…you are just putting the money in a new place.

Next, enjoy IRS created HSA triple tax advantages. Reduce annual out-of-pocket income taxes up to $2,000. Save EVERY year on taxes from here on out. Below are your three main tax saving pillars.

- Contributions to your HSA are 100% tax free.

- Interest on all of your account investment gains are also 100% tax free.

- The type of investments are your

choice and range from low-interest, no risk, lower bank rates to the widest range of stocks, bonds, & mutual funds. The level of risk is up to you.