A Test for Small Businesses: How Age & Pre-Existing Conditions Affect Coverage Options
With the high cost of health insurance coverage these days, it is only reasonable that many people look to their employers first and foremost in order to try and get the health coverage they need. But for those employed by a small business, this solution can be hard to come by. Although some small business owners just cannot afford to offer their employees healthcare coverage, others are willing to help pay for their employees health insurance policies, but are unable to secure a plan due to circumstances within their business.
There are two main factors that help keep a small business from acquiring health insurance for their employees: age and pre-existing conditions. For larger businesses with hundreds or thousands of employees, these factors have less of an impact because there are plenty of young, healthy people to help spread the risk around. The plans may be a little higher, but the employer can still secure health insurance for their employees. However, a small business may be completely shut out and denied by an insurance company if even just one or two of their employees are older or have a pre-existing condition, simply due to the fact that there are not enough young, healthy employees to help spread the risk around enough for it to be beneficial to the health insurance provider.
For these businesses, they have no choice but to ask their employees to purchase their own private health insurance or remain uninsured. Their options are severely limited and even if they could secure a policy, it would likely be sky-high. So how can a small business overcome this obstacle? There may be one good option. One that many self-employed persons use to help secure a group plan for themselves that is more affordable than a private, individual plan: join a group of other very small businesses and apply for a policy as one. One small business with 10 employees may not be able to get reasonable health insurance coverage for their employees, but 100 small businesses with 10 employees – totaling 1,000 employees covered under the plan – may be able to, since there is a larger pool of people to spread the risk around to. These plans may not be as cheap as those from employers who have thousands of employees, but it will be a cost effective solution to the alternative of no insurance or costly individual coverage for some of your employees.
Remember, running a small business has many challenges and obstacles that you must learn to overcome and adapt to … finding health care coverage for you and your employees is no different. It is just another aspect of running a small business that you must learn to find a positive, cost-effective solution to, just as you would any other business operation. If you can afford the coverage and can secure it for your employees, you will be able to retain the outstanding employees that you already have and pick up some of the best and loyal employees on the market.
Car Insurance Premiums
In Malaysia, premiums for car insurance (or auto insurance as it is known in some other countries) are fixed by Bank Negara Malaysia. Therefore, assuming your car is 1,500cc, the base premium chargeable will be the same whether you purchase your insurance from Insurer A or Insurer B. This pretty much reduces the headache of shopping around for cheap car insurance amongst the many insurers available. Probably the only thing that distinguishes one insurer to another is the reputation of their claims service (which, in my opinion, is the most important factor), the network of service or repair centres available in the event of a breakdown or accident and to a small extent, the freebies that come with the purchase of the insurance.
In some other countries, however, the premiums chargeable for car insurance differs from insurer to insurer. Car owners will have to do a fair bit of shopping around for the best car insurance rates available and this can be a mind boggling exercise. One shortcut to finding the best rates for car insurance is to approach your trusted insurance agent who would be able to give you a recommendation or two depending on your needs. Otherwise, you can also check for the best car insurance deals through online insurance companies or brokers. By entering some salient information and with a couple of clicks on the mouse, you will have a fair idea of what kind of insurance rates you are expected to pay for your car.
As mentioned above, the premium rates in Malaysia are fixed and is mainly based on the cubic capacity of the car. In other countries however, the age of the car and the type of the car can have a bearing on the premium chargeable. To promote safety and thus, lessening the risk of the insured perils, having safety features such as anti-lock braking systems, theft locks and air bags will reduce the insurance premium payable. In some countries, even nitty gritties like the age and sex of the owner or driver also affects the car insurance premium payable! I suppose they must have some good statistics to prove that certain drivers of certain age and sex are more prone to car accidents than others!
Whilst the flexible rates policy as practiced in other countries sound attractive as it caters to the exact needs and niche of the owner, I would still prefer the system currently available in Malaysia which takes a whole load of headache away when a car owner decides to choose the right auto insurance.
