Park City, Utah (PRWEB) October 24, 2013 -- Today, Zane Benefits, the number one online small business health benefits solution, published new information on health insurance stipends.
According to Zane Benefits’ website, it's common for a business owner to ask, "Can I offer employees a health insurance stipend, allowing them to find their own insurance plan?"
The answer is yes. Using a pure defined contribution health plan approach, businesses can provide a health insurance stipend to employees to use on health insurance.
In fact, more and more business owners and nonprofits are using health insurance stipends instead of offering a one-size fits all group health insurance plan.
The most common approach to providing a health insurance stipend is to set up a limited-purpose Section 105 medical reimbursement plan. By using a Section 105 medical reimbursement plan, the employer stays compliant with ACA, IRS, ERISA, and HIPAA regulations, and they can offer health insurance stipends on a tax-free basis. In fact, a Section 105 plan is one of the only compliant ways a business can provide health benefits in this way.
Setting up a Section 105 plans is quite simple and this type of approach - providing employees a health insurance stipend instead of a specific health insurance plan - is gaining popularity in the US, especially with smaller businesses and nonprofits.
According to Zane Benefits’ website, a driving force is cost. Continual increases in healthcare costs have adversely impacted most businesses’ ability to provide health benefits in the traditional way. Small businesses have been particularly hurt, and many have dropped group health insurance plans because they have become too expensive.
On top of cost, employers and employees find this type of arrangement attractive because:
- Employees choose the health plan that best fits their family.
- Employers fix their costs by giving employees a monthly healthcare stipend.
- Once implemented, it takes less than 5 minutes per month to administer online.
Click here to read the full article.
About Zane Benefits
Zane Benefits was founded in 2006 to provide a revolutionized SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) administration platform ("ZaneHealth") for defined contribution health care. The flagship software provides a 100% paperless administration experience to small businesses and insurance professionals that want to offer better health benefits without a traditional group health insurance plan at lower costs. For more information about Zane Benefits, visit http://www.zanebenefits.com.
Christina Merhar, Zane Benefits, http://www.zanebenefits.com, 800-391-9209 6725, [email protected]
SOURCE Zane Benefits
Share this article