Benefits and Risks of Corporate Wellness Programs | Business.com

May 6, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Offering employee benefits packages that go beyond health insurance and retirement plans is a great way for smaller businesses to attract and hold on to top-level employees. However, setting up flexible benefits offerings like corporate wellness programs isn’t as simple as organizing a walking group or offering yoga class discounts. You must recognize the potential legal implications and issues when you start participating actively in your employees’ personal lives.

Here’s what you need to know about corporate wellness programs, including how they can aid companies and their employees, and the rules and legal aspects to consider when you launch these programs.

What are corporate wellness programs?

Corporate wellness programs are initiatives led by a company to boost or sustain the health of employees, with consideration for factors both inside and outside the workplace.

55% of Small Business Owners Say Providing Healthcare is Their Biggest Challenge | Small Business Trends

March 25, 2021March 23, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

More than half (55%) of small businesses say providing health insurance to employees is the biggest challenge they face.

Providing adequate healthcare cover comes ahead of Covid challenges, taxes, and competition from large corporations.

This was the finding of Small Business for America’s Future national survey of small business owners. Small Business of America’s Future is a national coalition of business owners and leaders. The coalition’s aim is to provide small businesses with a voice at each level of government. Its recent national survey asked 827 small business owners their opinions on the cost of health and potential solutions to bring down these costs.

Should You Still Offer Health Insurance as a Benefit? | Entrepreneur

February 6, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Many questions surround the future of former President Barack Obama’s health care law, the Affordable Care Act. The most immediate is, “Will the insurance I bought during Open Enrollment work in 2017?” (Yes.) Others are more far-reaching, such as, “What happened to the health-insurance shopping utopia we were promised?” (Well, about that …)

These issues obviously affect individuals, but they affect employers, too. Businesses that once might have planned to send employees to an individual marketplace for coverage now could be questioning whether they should continue (or even begin) offering health insurance as a benefit. If you’re looking for answers, you’ll find them only after you ask the right questions. Here are a few to pose, based on your company’s current status.

Is Self-Insurance Right for Your Business? | Business News Daily

January 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

According to Healthcare.gov, self-insurance is a “type of plan … where the employer itself collects premiums from enrollees and takes on the responsibility of paying employees’ and dependents’ medical claims.” Insurance services such as enrollment, claims processing and provider networks can be handled in-house, but are more frequently managed by a third-party administrator (TPA) or an insurance company.

An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Buying Health Insurance | All business

December 8, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Most entrepreneurs are solopreneurs or have less than five employees. This means that you’re not required to buy insurance for employees (obligation begins at 5o full-time employees) and it probably doesn’t make sense for you to have a company plan. In other words, you will be buying your insurance from the individual plan market. Here is a guide to buying health insurance in the age of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Decide Where to Buy

The ACA (often referred to as “Obamacare”) has made it much easier to buy individual health insurance plans by setting up a federal webstore: healthcare.gov. You can browse for plans available in your zip code, compare what they offer, and enroll in a policy of your choosing — all without leaving leaving the website.

Everyone’s a Freelancer Now at Least for Health Care Benefits | Businessweek

October 2, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

For much of its existence, the Freelancers Union’s reason for being was to get workers who weren’t in full-time jobs access to health insurance. In 2001, the Brooklyn-based nonprofit started brokering group-rate health coverage to its membership of graphic designers, strategy consultants, and others who work job-to-job. Later, it launched its own insurance company that would sell you coverage if you could prove that you made your income from contract work.

Now the group is trading in its insurance business to provide medical care directly. The 25,000 members in New York covered by Freelancers Insurance Co. will in 2014 be rolled into plans provided by Empire BlueCross BlueShield. Freelancers Union will open 15 primary care clinics around the country in the next five years, says Sara Horowitz, the group’s executive director. It already has two clinics in New York, where workers who buy plans from its insurance arm get primary care with no co-pays and with access to other services. Tai chi classes, anyone?