What is the most important part of your job? Is it the service that you provide, or the product that you produce? Is it how you impact others? Is it the salary that you earn? Or, like so many people in this country, is it the fact that your job provides you health insurance?
It might surprise you to know that only two in five Americans under 65 have employer-based health insurance coverage. It will not, however, come as a surprise that this 40% of Americans who have employer provided insurance are the envy of the other 60%. Healthcare insurance is turning into one of the great divides in the world. One of the divisions between the have’s and have not’s.
Current legislation is changing the rules about who has to provide health insurance to their employees. Specifically, as of Jan. 1, 2016, companies with 50 or more employees will be required to provide health insurance to 95% of their workers. How this new rule will play out is something that many people are anxious about.
Health insurance advisors across the country find themselves busy answering questions about how new rules will impact both individuals and companies. Currently, Americans without health insurance must pay $325 per person or 2% of an individual’s yearly household income, whichever amount is greater. In addition to the possible change in how much and who pays for insurance, individual health insurance agents are also attempting to provide information about how much coverage is needed. Even the 40% of Americans who currently have life insurance coverage don?t think they have enough.
As our nation, its doctors, and healthcare providers continue to work toward a health insurance standard that everyone can agree with, individuals will continue searching for ways to at least provide their families with basic health coverage. And, sometimes, that might mean staying with a job simply because of the healthcare that it provides.
