[lbo-talk] Way to Go, Kruggie

[jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net]

> Therefore, I am interested in the health of my employees, but not in 
> a healthy way. As much as I hate my reaction, I can't help but cringe 
> when a medical treatment is needed by the people who work for my 
> company. I know that their treatment for an illness will change my 
> experience rating and will move my rate increase upward in the 
> following year. I hate this feeling, and so do the other employers I 
> talk to about this problem.
> 
> I don't want to be selfishly concerned if an employee has a health 
> problem -- I would much rather just be  sympathetic and helpful.
> 
> But, the reality of small business medical insurance as an employee 
> benefit forces us small employers to confront our situations. I have 
> seen a range of reactions by employers to the effect that employees' 
> medical treatments have on our medical insurance costs. Some move 
> their entire company to plans with ever-decreasing benefits in an 
> attempt to offset rising costs. Some require the employees to absorb 
> all or most of the cost increases. Some just soldier on, trying to 
> pass the increases onto clients and customers or failing that, reduce 
> margins or reduce other expenses. Tragically, some employers think 
> that they need to shame, cajole or otherwise influence their 
> employees to forego medical care, especially chemical dependence or 
> mental health treatments, just to minimize the insurance company's 
> experience assessment.
> 
> Keith Nybakke

How do you deal with rising costs in your business? 
I had annual meetings with all 25 employees and we spent many hours 
going over what our options were and tried to reach a consensus or at 
least a majority opinion on how to best proceed. Some years we 
decreased benefits a little, other years employees took sustaining 
existing coverage and accepted smaller raises. In the end I was a bit 
disappointed that the feeling you describe, cringing when someone gets 
ill and needs expensive expensive treatment, became the shared feeling 
among the employees. The desire to influence employees to forego 
medical care is even stronger when it is not just your boss but all your 
co-workers urging employees who need treatment to "think about 
everyone else" and don't do anything that will increase "our" rates. My 
personal experience trying to work towards increasing employees 
understanding of solidarity didn't fill me with optimism. 

John Thornton_