As insurance is likely to be one of the major expenses of your medical practice, controlling insurance costs is a key way to manage the overhead costs of your business. Adjusting contributions and consulting an advisor are two ways you can help keep your insurance costs down.
Adjust contributions
Some medical practices pay for 100 percent of their employee’s premiums. However, if your practice cannot afford to do that, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) recommends you ask yourself these questions before determining an appropriate contribution level:1
- What can your practice afford?
- What level of contribution will make your employees feel valued?
- What message are you trying to send to employees through your contribution level?
- What level of contribution are other employers in your industry offering?
Also, NAIFA recommends keeping the employee contribution for spousal coverage on the higher side. When it’s less expensive for a spouse to be added to your plan than it is for that spouse to maintain coverage through his or her employer, you unnecessarily create additional plan costs. 1
Consult an experienced advisor
Another way to keep costs down is to consult an insurance advisor who specializes in medical practices. Medical practices, physicians, and their staff have unique needs not found in other business environments, and an experienced advisor can work with the carrier of your choice to obtain the coverage you need.
An experienced advisor can also help you determine which types of insurance can give you the “most bang for your buck” when it comes to offering your employees a robust benefits package, and which plan types employees might be willing to purchase themselves.
The advisor should also work with your medical practice to design a program that meets your unique needs, and help you only get the coverage you need—nothing more.
With a little research and the help of a knowledgeable insurance advisor, your annual enrollment can be a little easier—and you can help your medical practice thrive in these difficult economic times.
1. Keeping Employee-Benefit Costs Down, by Jason Lombardi, Oct. 2009, http://advisortoday.com/200910/employeebenefits.html
