Insurance

The Cost Of Business Health Insurance

Lately there has been a lot of talk concerning health insurance for business. Business owners have complained, and loudly in many states, to the local politicians about the escalating costs of health insurance. Business owners are seeing yearly increases of over 10-12% per year in premiums while the coverage either stagnates or begins to eliminate certain items. So for business owners, health insurance is beginning to look like a costly option. Meanwhile, insurance companies are still advising that business have health insurance to attract quality employees. Arkansas and Alaska are two states that have held hearings about the issue. States such as Pennsylvania and New York have state sponsored programs so that there are more options for employer and employee when it comes to business health insurance. Unfortunately, business health insurance is almost as needed as business property insurance when it comes to dealing with income and ongoing operations.

Keeping Insurance Costs Down

Keep your employees healthy – many larger corporations are starting to work on this angle. Business’s are initiating programs to promote exercise, healthy living, cancer screenings and even offering flu shots. The idea being that a healthy employee costs less than using the business health insurance policy.
Reduce the amount of coverage – today many employers are asking their employees to pay into the business health insurance policy with the common contribution being near the 50% mark. It is also fairly common today for business owners to exclude dental and vision coverage.
Start health savings accounts – these are becoming more popular with small business owners. These tax-exempt accounts, which can only pay for certain medical expenses, could reduce costs for a small business health insurance policy and give employees tax breaks.
Join a group or HMO – small business health insurance plans can take the form of group plans which cover between two and 50 employees. The larger the group, the less the premiums are to pay. If your business has less than 10 employees, you can still partner up with other businesses or individuals to expand the group plan. To do this you need to have all members be in the same state.
Shop around for business health insurance – different providers will give different rates; especially if they know they are in competition with other insurance companies. Start asking other business owners near you about their health insurance costs. Search the internet for lower rates with such sites as eHealthInsurance.

These are just five simple steps you can take to reduce the cost of health insurance for business owners both small and larger.

Getting The Most From Business Property Insurance

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Most business is conducted from a set physical location; be it an office, factory, or retail presence, there is usually a brick and mortar building to put a name onto. With this building there is the need to safeguard the building and the contents within it. Business Property Insurance was created to deal with this very fact. This type of commercial business insurance deals strictly with physical buildings and any other physical assets of the business within it depending on the coverage purchased. Business property insurance is the safety net for when there is severe damage to the physical aspect of the business and allows for continued operation of the business.

What Needs Coverage

Business property insurance should include a broad range of coverage to protect both you and your business from a variety of loss. Your insurance agent or company should include the following into your policy:

Buildings – insurance would be required if you own the building your business occupies, especially if there is a bank loan involved. If you lease the building, then the landlord would provide for the business property insurance.
Business personal property – this portion of the insurance would cover what is inside the building such as office furniture, equipment, any machinery or any other stationary furnishings used by the business. If you lease the building, this should also include any improvements made to the building such as wall dividers or counter space added on.
Loss of Income – this part of the policy would provide assistance to ensure that bills are paid and services are not disrupted by damage to the building or its contents from such things as fires or anything which destroys part of the building.
Earthquake or Flooding – depending on the location of the business this piece of insurance can be very helpful in the event of natural disaster if it is available in your area.

Other Minor Areas To Include

There is a business property insurance policy known as an “all-risk” policy which can be structured to cover other miscellaneous items such as:
Computer hardware and software
Files and records
All equipment

Failure to include as much as possible into your business property insurance policy could result in losses that you are not otherwise able to cover. This is why many insurance agents will attempt to structure the broadest range of coverage in your business property insurance policy. The premiums you pay now will be worth the cost of possibly saving the business later.