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Should Your Company Offer Group Health Insurance?

Posted by tradrmick on April 10, 2012 Comments Off

Evaluating health insurance options can be a real challenge in the complex insurance market we have now. Having said this, it can generally be asserted that group health insurance plans are superior to any health insurance options available to individuals. Let’s take a look at how to get and set up group health insurance.

States Matter

Any discussion of group health insurance has to be tempered first with a disclaimer that the rules related to groups vary greatly from state-to-state. Group health insurance is almost always a much better deal than individual insurance. It tends to provide better coverage and cost much less since the cost is shared between the employer and employees in one form or another. Having said this, group coverage is a complex area of insurance and should only be ventured into with the help of a qualified, experienced health insurance agent or financial planner.

Worth Offering

The decision to purchase group health insurance is a smart one for a business. Talented and valuable potential employees now look closely at benefits when deciding where they wish to be employed. It is no secret that health insurance is very expensive these days. Offering it to potential employees can often be the nudge needed to convince them to select or stay with your company instead of heading to a competitor.

One new offering that many companies are including is the Health Savings Account option. Under this plan the employee agrees to a lower cost high deductible health plan and in return does payroll deductions (on a pre-tax basis) that is deposited into a HSA. Normally the company will contribute the premium savings as a match to the employees account. You may want to look through the various HSA rules to see if this type of account would work for your situation.

Requirements

As the name implies, group health insurance is available only to a group of individuals. In this case, the group is a collection of employees. Most small business group health plans define this as a collection of between 2 and 50 individuals. Group plans cannot be offered to select employees. If any single employee is offered health insurance by the company in question, all of the full time employees must be offered the same plan.

Group health insurance works in a manner that is entirely different than individual insurance. With individual health insurance, an insurance company is going to evaluate the individual’s health closely and may reject them based on any particular concerns that arise in the evaluation. This is not the case with group health insurance. Instead, risk is spread over the population of employees participating in the group plan, so the insurer is often forced to simply take the group as a whole regardless of the health concerns related to one or two individuals. Put another way, individual employees with certain health problems cannot be excluded.

Application

The preparation and filing of an application for group health insurance is a fairly complex matter. This is an area where an experienced professional is worth their weight in gold. They can help you work through the options available to your particular group while also organizing the application in a manner that is going to get you the maximum coverage for the minimum cost. Most business owners are DIY ["do it yourself"] enthusiasts by definition, but this is one area where you want to bring in professional help.

Administration

A group health insurance policy comes with an administrative requirement. A business will need to designate one or more people to administer the plan and work with employees who have questions or problems. Most businesses designate a person in human resources to handle the matter. Your particular choice doesn’t matter so long as you understand this is the responsibility of the business and arrange for it to be handled.

Applying for and setting up group health insurance can be a chore at first. The aggravation is more than worth it in the long run. Once the plan is up and running, the cost is a fraction of individual policies and provides employees with benefits that will generate loyalty to the company.

Recognizing Depression In Children

Posted by tradrmick on March 25, 2012 Comments Off

It is often easy to fall into stereotypes when discussing a subject like depression. One stereotype is this is a problem suffered by adults who are living under very stressful conditions. In truth, any age group can suffer from depression. If you are a parent, recognizing depression in children is something you must learn to do and understand thoroughly.

How Common Is Depression Among Children?

First of all, when we use the term children we are talking about pre-teens. Fortunately, the answer is that it is fairly rare compared to any other age group. The reason for this is it is believed that hormones and brain chemistry changes play a large part in the development of depression. Although the brains of children are obviously developing as they grow, they tend not to become subject to the type of hormonal and brain chemistry changes that are necessary for the onset of serious clinical depression.

This doesn’t mean that pre-teens do not suffer from depression. Clearly, they do. Part of the issue may be that is more difficult to diagnose them as such. By definition, children tend to be highly reliant on their parents and look to them for decision making. Whereas a depressed adult might stay in for the evening, a depressed child would have no choice but to go out with their parents if the parents so chose. As a result, a parent needs to be more sensitive to the potential symptoms of depression in children since the parent’s own decision making may mask them.

Symptoms Of Depression In Children

The symptoms of depression in a child are very similar to those seen in an adult. That being said, there tend to be two symptoms that are unique to children. The first is a tendency to be very clingy with one or both parents on a constant basis. The second is to undertake acts in which they harm themselves. This can include things such as burning or cutting oneself. If either of these symptoms are seen in a young child, professional treatment should be sought immediately.

As for more traditional symptoms, you can expect a child suffering from depression to show some, but not all, of the typical symptoms associated with the adult version of this mental health issue. They include:

• Feeling sad
• a loss of interest in things
• heightened anxiety
• sensations of worthlessness
• heightened guilt
• feelings of helplessness
• sudden changes in weight
• sleeping issues
• agitation
• suicidal thoughts

Is Your Child Really Depressed?

The question many parents face is determining whether their child is really depressed or simply going through a rough patch? There really is no easy answer to this differentiation. Mental health professionals suggest a parent listen to their instincts on the issue. If a child has significantly changed their attitude and outlook on life, a parent usually is going to recognize it. In the absence of this type of feeling, it is also wise to look for what is known as a two week period of change. If a child goes through a period where they are sad or showing symptoms of depression for two or more consecutive weeks, than professional treatment should be sought.

Depression Treatment In Children

Basically treatment for a depressed child is the same as it is for an adult. Medication and psychotherapy are the two core methodologies that are used. In addition to these, however, the mental health professionals look into the living situation of the child to determine if there is some underlying cause of anxiety which can give rise to the depressed state. Examples of this would be abuse, parental fighting and environmental conditions. Again, most children do not suffer from depression because of brain chemistry changes. Instead, they tend to show symptoms of the problem because of some kind of underlying anxiety issue. If an underlying issue can be identified and dealt with, the depressive diagnosis can often be countered.

The good news is that major depression in children is fairly rare. The bad news is that it does occur and left untreated it can be just as lethal as with adults. Given this, recognizing depression in children is something every parent should be able to do. If your child shows symptoms of depression for a period of more than two weeks, there is no harm in seeking out a professional evaluation to make sure that it is just a passing phase and not something that could lead to a tragic end. If you are covered by health insurance or a health savings account the evaluation is considered a qualified medical expense.

The HSA / HDHP Combination Works Well For Most

Posted by tradrmick on February 13, 2012 Comments Off

When it comes to health care expenses, each of us have to find the right solution that is going to wind up making our lives easier these days. One very important part of taking good care of one’s self is checking out whether or not the HSA 2012 updates might be able to meet your health care needs. For me it’s been helpful paying for orthaheel orthotics and other items my doctor has prescribed for the treatment of my foot problem. Just so you know, HSA is the abbreviation for Health Savings Account, a type of account that can help by making sure you can cover costs and the good news is that the money you save is going to be tax deductible, too. This is an option that is very much worth checking out more, but you do want to make sure that you are pairing this kind of savings plan with an optimal type of insurance policy. If you know how an IRA works then you will have a solid idea of how an account like this for your health care works and you can see just how beneficial it is to you since when you retire, you could use the money however you like.

This plan, of course, will not work without the right sort of insurance, though, so you need to make sure you pick the correct sort of policy for yourself. Since you need to have a substantial deductible, an HDHP is going to be the best route for you to go and it is going to let you save a great deal more towards the costs of any care that you might incur over the years. Yes, some people will complain about the high deductible, but the purpose of that is to keep the monthly costs of the policy comparatively low. You can probably see why a lot of people are thrilled to have an option like this that lets them save for their own health care costs and get what they need because they pay a lot less in taxes. In the end, a little research will give you all of the specifics, but you might just be one of the people who decides this is a smart way to go.

If you are careful about how you plan for the future, this can be an excellent route to consider. An HSA Account & High Deductible Health Plan combination mean that you have far fewer worries about unexpected medical expenses and that is always good news. Since it first came about in 2003, this has been a truly popular route for people to save by. Taking good care of your medical needs is much easier to do this way.

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