When I first started teaching fifteen years ago, I had a lot of decisions to make with regards to choosing the right life insurance as well as deciding on my health insurance company. Honestly, I didn’t realize the importance of having these two things in place because I was very young and not really thinking about a time when I would suffer from poor health or not be able to work.
Thankfully, I had a veteran colleague who mentored me and helped me choose the health insurance plan that would cover my family and I in the event of suffering a serious illness. It was a decision that I have been grateful for having made correctly many times over during the last fifteen years. Unfortunately, my health has failed me a few times during that time and, having the right coverage, helped to relieve a lot of the stress of being sick in the first place.
Small business owners in New York City know that health insurance is one of the most important considerations when attracting perspective employees. There have been many changes in healthcare regulations and it has become virtually impossible to figure out the right course of action for businesses. Some small businesses have chosen to secure coverage for their employees through insurance agents and broker while others have decided simply to not offer health insurance at all or direct their employees to the individual marketplace exchange offered by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Many small businesses don’t know that The Affordable Care Act also introduced the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP), also known as the Small Business Marketplace in New York. This initiative was created specifically for small businesses with employer tax credits not offered through the individual exchange. To help make it easier for small businesses to use the Exchange some of the strongest business organizations in the city have partnered with EmblemHealth on an initiative to educate small business owners on SHOP.
Since I personally understand the importance of being proactive and educated about health options, I love that EmblemHealth launched a Health Care Reform Hub offering everything a small business owner needs to know about SHOP. This service even offers a Tax Calculator to help business owners determine the tax credits that their business might be eligible for.
If small businesses can learn to understand the savings that they could take advantage of by offering health options to their employees, New Yorkers will have more options for accessing important coverage for themselves and their loved ones. In the end, this will make the system work for both small business owners and employees!
Let’s Discuss: How important is it to you that your employer offer an affordable health care option for you and your family?
Disclosure: This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with EmblemHealth. All opinions are 100% my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
© 2015, Tough Cookie Mommy. All rights reserved.
I had no idea about Small Business Health Options Program. This is great information and is so important for people to understand that dont work for big companies.
Just thinking about health insurance makes me cringe. My Daughter and her significant other own a small business. I am going to tell her about EmblemHealth and their Health Care Reform Hub.
Health insurance plans often seem so overwhelming. It’s nice how they break things down to make it easier to figure out.
Being military I don’t really have to worry much about health insurance but I do know that once I get out it will be an issue. While we’re covered for now and will be as well once I retire, I do however have to worry about dental and we all know how expensive that can be. I will have to check this out and see if this may be an alternative for us upon retirement. Thank you.
I live in Canada. I have health issues and my girls have special needs. I can’t tell you how important this is to our family. We pay for our health care in our taxes as you know but I am incredibly grateful for that care here in ontario. It is the most important thing to me as a parent – access to health care.
This is very interesting. I’m going to have to look into this a lot further.
Health insurance is so important, and I think every employer should provide insurance for their employees. I would never take a job with a company that didn’t.
This is really helpful information! Will pass along to a few friends of mine with small businesses. So important to support our local entrepreneurs!
Health insurance can be very confusing at times. Thanks for the information!
Having the right health insurance is always great and beneficial.
Thanks for the information. We have private insurance so I’m not sure if it will qualify
Fortunately we have our insurance set-up through hubby’s work and it a great program. I am glad to know though that there are resources like this out there just in case our employment status ever changed.
Thanks for the helpful information. I work for myself but if I got a job with an employer health benefits would be a must.
Thank you for the info – insurance choices are so many and can be confusing – but so important to know these extra things
Having coverage is so important! Not everyone has it though, so it’s so vital to research and look into it now more than ever
It is really important to our family. If my dad didn’t have the health and life insurance policies that he did my mom would have been in a mess. But he was so smart. Just wish insurance wasn’t so expensive.
Having affordable health care is so important when you have a family. It makes the difference when choosing jobs and long terms career goals.
For us with having such a large family (6) having healthcare is a huge thing and very important. EmblemHealth sounds like it’s a great company for small businesses and being a small business owner myself, I need companies like EmblemHealth in my life. I look forward to learning more abut them.
I am retired now, so it’s not a question of an employer providing me with health insurance. But when I was working, there was no way I’d consider a job, no matter how good the pay, without a decent health plan. My husband never had any health insurance, so it was up to me to make sure that we were covered.