The rise in health insurance premiums aren’t just affecting those individuals and families that purchase their own health care coverage; it is also having an impact on employers that provide health benefits to their employees. The rising costs of providing employee health insurance plans is forcing many companies, large and small, to switch more of the burden onto the employees.

The Washington Post reported that many companies are shifting the burden to employees through the implementation of health insurance plans that carry a high deductible. A high deductible plan is one that has a deductible of at least $1200 for individuals or $2400 for families.

The shift to higher deductible plans is part of the shift to “consumer-driven health care” which is just a fancy way of saying that consumers need to watch more carefully where their health care dollar is spent. This is because with a high deductible health plan, the consumer is responsible for the initial costs, up to the deductible amount, which comes right out of their pocket. Generally, when people are forking out money they would rather not, one of two things happen. They either pay very close attention to the expenditures, or they go without.

The fact that many people choose to forgo health care when faced with a high deductible plan is a concern. The idea of a health care plan is to be able to seek coverage when you need it, but if this coverage is going to cost you more money up front, then you may choose to ignore the medical issue. This can lead to larger issues, costing more money and placing a larger burden on the heath care system.

One way to cope with being faced with coverage from a high deductible small group health insurance plan is to have a Health Savings Account, or HSA. Generally a high deductible group health plan will be HSA eligible, which helps cope with the higher out-of-pocket costs. An HSA is a pretax savings account that can be used only for relevant medical expenses, without being penalized. You contribute to your HSA with pretax dollars, lowering your overall tax burden. A typical HSA lets you contribute annually the amount equal to your annual health care plan deductible.

Businesses are getting group health insurance quotes for plans with a high deductible in order to shift some of the health care cost burden to their employees. More than 40 percent of large employers (with more than 10,000 employees) offer some sort of high-deductible group health insurance plan. Small business owners are considering group health insurance quotes with high deductibles as well, in a way to get a handle on rising health care coverage costs.

Related posts:

1. Personal Health Insurance Plans
2. Employers’ Cost Of Health Care Benefits
3. Small Business Health Insurance
4. Compare Health Insurance Plans
5. Affordable Medical Insurance Plans