"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:52:43 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

In fact, companies shouldn't be in the business of being health care
administrators, period.

At one time health care was a fringe benefit offered by employers to
attract and retain good people. What happened to that concept?


Cost. As a fringe benefit the company either paid the premium fully or paid
a major portion of it.
But as the premiums have soared over the past 20 years and the introduction
of HMO's that further escalated costs, group health insurance, as a benefit
in small business has become a significant cost of doing business. For
those in some industries it has become difficult to compete price-wise with
other companies that don't have a health plan benefit.

Another issue is simply the cost and time of administrating the program. We
used to do it through our small HR department, even though it cost the
company money with no financial consideration for the service. I always
thought that Blue Cross should compensate small businesses for
administrating *their* program. Some companies are now being forced to
add a "service charge", just to help cover the cost of administrating the
health program.

Business, especially small ones, should not be in the health insurance
administration business.
It would be far better to pay the employees additional money in their
paycheck and allow them to purchase their own plan. Contrary to what many
believe, you cannot simply "pass on" the cost to the customer in all types
of businesses.

Eisboch