Supplemental Insurance by private insurance companies. – Rather than trying to cover everything, the goal is to help cover expensive medical costs with insurance like a Hospital Indemnity Plan. A licensed insurance agent can help you find a plan right for you, including policies for cancer, accident, disability, critical illness insurance, plus more.

Seniors may also elect to add these supplemental Hospital Indemnity Plan insurance policies to their Medicare plan for help with out-of-pocket expenses and added coverage, especially for over-looked expenses like transportation when falling ill while traveling, lodging, and not being able to work or care for someone else. 

Medical Cost-Sharing Groups – These are often faith-based groups, and the members band together to help share the cost of medical bills. There are a few that are not faith-based. These sharing groups are not health insurance as defined by the US government. However, many people prefer a sharing group for several reasons, such as faith, non-government, and the cost, which can affect their decision. Some of these groups have strong restrictions for membership, such as no alcohol drinking. You should verify the cost and membership requirements before joining.

Here are a few examples.

One Share Health

7 Health Care Sharing Ministries

5 Best Healthcare Ministries – BibleReasons

Altrua HealthShare

Christian Health Quotes

Christian Healthcare Ministries

Christian Healthcare Plan

Liberty HealthShare

MediShare

Samaritan Ministries

Medical Payment Cards & Loans – For Medical expenses, and some allow veterinary expenses. Here are a few examples.

AccessOne Med Card

CareCredit

iCareFinancial

Sidecar Health

United Medical Credit

Wells Fargo Health Advantage Card

Discount Programs – And there are simple discount programs, but these are often just available for smaller medical services such as dental, vision, and hearing. — Note: Discount Programs are not insurance. FTC Consumer Information.

Most medical discount programs are structured for dental, vision, and hearing and are listed on the Resources 4 page. But some programs include TeleMed services, which can be a money saver over going to a doctor or emergency room for a non-emergency medical need.

freshbenies has options such as TeleMed, Discount Plans, and Advocacy to help navigate and negotiate your medical bills.

Your Employees

There are ways to help your employees, even if you only have a handful of employees. Most business owners truly care about their employees, but the size of your small business will, of course, have a lot to do with what you can provide in insurance coverage for you employees, along with what the government requires, but if your business it very small, like fewer than 20 employees, there are some options to help with your employees’ medical expenses.

A straightforward option is financial assistance, by paying some portion of an employee’s medical insurance premium or a medical cost sharing plan (see Alternatives to Insurance above).

Another route is to pay or help pay for insurance such as a hospital indemnity plan or accident plan.

An often over-looked option is joining a business association, some include the ability to buy group type health coverage for you and maybe your employees. These associations might be a small business or professional organization, or a trade or membership group. GTS – Google That Stuff as relates to your business.

And an inexpensive choice is a discount program, even if only a dental discount program, honestly it would seem anything is better than nothing.

freshbenies has a good selection of discount options to offer employees. Or an employer can elect to offer a base selection, and allow their employees to add on various options at the employees’ own expense.

Your Business

Sometimes Life Insurance seems to be the last thing on a small business owners mind, but should it be brought to the forefront? You built and love your business, so what happens if:

You fall ill? What if you lose an employee that is critical to your business? What is your partner passes away and their family wants you to liquidate your business to settle their share? What if there is a customer accident at your business?

Those what-ifs might need the attention of an insurance plan, because there is an option for just about any event that could befall your business, from insuring a valuable employee to protecting your business from illness or loss.

The Government

Ah, the government factor. For very small businesses, the main government related concern is probably taxes, but for larger businesses, with 20 plus employees, insurance benefits for employees gets very complicated, and even more so at 50 plus employees. But thankfully there are companies that specialize in working with larger, small businesses to help them wade through the pile of paper work, requirements, and rules.

For larger businesses that need help with employee health care, tax or accounting type services, here are a couple of local firms.

OneDigital

ABY Benefits