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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: SOME ALTERNATIVE IDEAS ON HEALTH CARE COVERAGE

June 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Silkin Management Group has, over the last two days, presented some articles on the
legal battles going on with the Obama-care health care legislation. A major appellate
oral argument will occur on Wednesday, June 8, and the outcome of that appeal will have significant ramifications on the implementation of this legislation. You can read our latest article concerning this by linking to this Silkin Management Group blog site: Update on Obama-Care Legal Appeals Part 2.

Given that Silkin Management Group clients are all small businesses which are very
directly affected by this legislation, we thought we’d offer up some alternative thoughts
that any small business, whether a Silkin Management Group client or not, might use
when this legislation starts taking effect in a serious way.

With health care premiums expected to increase by eight to ten percent again next near, controlling health care costs is essential. Also, unless the legislation is overturned through the legal battles going on, in 2014 any business with 50 or more employees will be required to offer health insurance or pay a per-employee tax. Therefore, if you are a small business, here are some alternative ideas you might look at in order to control this cost.

Maintain your employee count below 50 people on your payroll. If you do this
you will not be required to offer health insurance and will have no tax penalties if
you do not offer health insurance for your employees.

Use higher deductible plans. Not only do you save money, you will put your
employee’s attention and emphasis on the cost of their health care and, hopefully,
maintaining a healthy life style since more money will be coming out of their
pocket.

Use a health care insurance consultant, somebody who is very familiar with all
aspects of the legislation and all of the insurance products in the marketplace
that people can use to comply with the legislation. It is very difficult for any
employer or employee to have adequate knowledge on this subject and make the
best choices out of the myriad of possibilities available. Hiring a professional,
likely at no cost as they should get paid through commissions, will help guide you
through this morass of potential confusion.

Have a “wellness education” program for your employees – there are many
of these available for businesses. Studies have shown that the more people
understand what they should do to maintain good health, the lower their health
care costs will be.

The above are just a few ideas that any employer can use to attempt to control their health care costs with the implementation of the Obama-care legislation. We’ll present any more ideas we come across on this subject on our various Silkin Management Group blog sites.

Dave McKevitt
Silkin Management Group Consultant

For more information about Silkin Management Group and our practice management
program, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: WHAT TAX CUTS?

October 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Silkin Management Group’s articles of September 17th , 21st, and 23rd, which you can find on either this site or another Silkin Management Group blog site which you can link to here, http://silkinmanagementgroup.org/ went over a variety of information about the possible changes in the tax rates. One of the biggest arguments back and forth is whether discontinuing the previous tax cuts will harm small businesses or not.

The consultants at Silkin Management Group are continuously researching this subject for Silkin Management Group clients and non-Silkin Management Group clients reading our various Silkin Management Group blogs.

Given that Silkin Management Group clients are all small business owners, changes in these tax rates will affect them as well as other non Silkin Management Group small business owners. Whether you are a Silkin Management Group client or not, you should know all you can about this.

Today I found a good article by Rep. Bill Cassidy about this subject. You can link to it here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43158.html

He made several interesting points relevant to Silkin Management Group clients and non Silkin Management Group small businesses.

• He points out that no one is really getting a tax cut. If the tax cuts expire, rates will rise on Jan. 1. If the cuts continue, rates remain the same.
• He points out that “the question isn’t whether to lower tax rates for this or that income bracket. It’s whether to raise taxes and on whom.”
• He also stated that “the National Federation of Independent Business, the leading small-business advocacy organization, found that “75 percent of small businesses are organized as pass-through entities (sole proprietors, partnerships, S corporations, etc.) — meaning they pay taxes on their business income based on the individual tax rates.”

Read the entire article – you’ll find it very interesting. I feel that the data in this article sheds some light on the never ending debate between the Democrats and Republicans about this issue, with one side saying any changes in the top tax bracket won’t make any difference and the other side saying the opposite.

And, as mentioned in the previous Silkin Management Group blogs, we will continue to research this issue and suggest you “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”. That’s the advice Silkin Management Group consultants are giving to Silkin Management Group clients.

Dave McKevitt
Silkin Management Group Consultant

You can follow Silkin Management Group at http://twitter.com/silkin.



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FURTHER DATA ON THE NEW REGULATIONS FOR EXISTING HEALTH CARE PLANS

June 24, 2010 By 1 Comment
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We’ve written recent articles on the problems small businesses may soon experience with existing health care plans as a result of the new guidelines put out by the Obama Administration. You can read these previous articles on two of Silkin Management Group’s blog sites: http://practicemanagementblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-rules-for-existing-health-care.html & http://silkinmanagementgroup.blogspot.com/2010/06/more-information-on-new-rules-for.html

The following is a short summary of this issue for anyone who hasn’t read what we’ve previously written and/or who is unfamiliar with this recent turn of events for small businesses with existing health care plans.

Under the new regulations, any business that has an existing plan will be able to keep their current plans as long as they don’t significantly cut benefits, raise co-insurance charges, or increase co-payments by more than five dollars. Such plans also will lose their status of being “grandfathered in” if deductibles are raised appreciably or if employers reduce their payments to employees’ premiums by more than five percent.

As mentioned in our previous blogs noted above, we are keeping an eye on any further updates and information about these new regulations as it affects Silkin Management Group clients with existing plans. Today I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that I thought I should pass along to any Silkin client or small business owner reading this site. You can access this article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703513604575311013340405940.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

This article points out another aspect of these new regulations that is not helpful for small businesses with existing plans. These new regulations could easily end up limiting what an employer can do about his plan costs and, at the same time, prevents him/her from getting a new plan at a lower cost because he/she would then lose the benefits from the “grandfathering” rights of existing plans.

As the article points out, “Many small businesses would like to keep their grandfathered status but can’t afford the premium increases. Benefits consulting firm Mercer LLC says increases are averaging about 10% in 2010, and a Deloitte LLP estimate puts the range between 11% and 15%.”

With premium increases happening now, small businesses are forced to make difficult decisions to control their costs, many of which may not comply with the new regulations and which could then result in losing their “grandfathering” advantages. Truly a lose-lose situation.

I suggest all Silkin Management Group clients read the attached article, as well as the previous articles noted in the blogs sites referenced above in order to stay on top of this issue.

Dave McKevitt
Silkin Management Group Consultant

For information about Silkin Management Group, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com



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WHY ARE SOME STATES SUING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OVER THE HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL?

June 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Anyone who has been reading our various Silkin Management Group blog sites knows that we’ve been writing for months about various aspects of the health care reform bill and its effects on small business. (Silkin Management Group clients are all small businesses.)

Many of you may be aware that some states decided to sue the federal government in the attempt to get this legislation thrown out. Some of my Silkin Management Group clients were curious about this suit, whether it had any merit and, maybe most importantly, what the basis behind the suit was.

Along those lines today I found an interesting article that covers the basic philosophy behind the suit. I found it quite fascinating and wanted to pass it along to our readers. I think you’ll find it interesting whether you agree with it or not.

There are several points to the argument, but the most basic seems to be the following, as pointed out by the author of the article:

“At the core of the lawsuit is the requirement that all individuals purchase qualified healthcare or face a fine. Forcing individuals to purchase something simply because they are alive is unprecedented, and we believe ultimately unconstitutional. The military’s draft is the only exception to this, and Congress’ authority to enact the draft is explicitly provided for in the Constitution, unlike this mandate.”

I suggest Silkin Management Group clients and anyone else reading this blog site read the article and form your own opinion about this suit. The full article can be found here: http://njtoday.net/2010/06/16/why-small-business-joined-the-healthcare-lawsuit/

Bill Hickey
Consultant for Silkin Management Group

For more information about Silkin Management Group visit our website at: www.silkinmanagementgroup.com.



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HOW DOES THE HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION AFFECT GROUP HEALTH CARE PLANS?

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Part 2

Yesterday, on this Silkin Management Group blog site, which you can link to here: www.silkinmanagementgroup.blogspot.com, we discussed some of the aspects of the new health care legislation relative to how it affects group health plans. All of Silkin’s clients are small businesses and many of them have group plans. Therefore wanted to relay the information we have found on this aspect of the legislation.

Here are 5 additional points that are important to know if you have a group health plan:

1. You insurance company should provide you with a summary of benefits as you are required to distribute such a summary to all employees covered under your plan.

2. There are some preventative care benefits that are required to be covered 100 percent. Which ones? That is still being figured out although vision and dental exams for children might be included. Any plan “grandfathered” will have the same preventative care benefits until 2014.

3. Any employer with 25 or less employees with an average wage less than $50,000 per year may be able to use the tax credit to deduct up to 35% of the premium payments from their taxes.

4. Employers with 2 to 50 employees may be eligible for a federal grant program to help with providing wellness programs for their employees. The details of this are still being figured out.

5. Emergency services (the definitions of which are still being figured out) will be paid at the in-network level whether or not the provider is preferred or non-preferred. Grandfathered plans will continue with the same emergency services benefits until 2014.

Bill Hickey
Consultant for Silkin Management Group

Please visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com for more information about Silkin’s services.



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MORE INFO ON THE INTRUSIVE PAPER WORK HIDDEN IN THE NEW HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION

May 25, 2010 By 1 Comment
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On several of our Silkin Management Group blog sites, we’ve posted articles about what was once a hidden and unknown portion of the health care legislation that has nothing to do with health care. This hidden stipulation requires all businesses to file 1099’s for every purchase of over $600 with any and every company they deal with.

Besides the fact that this has absolutely nothing to do with health care, why the heck was this slipped into the legislation behind everyone’s back? The simple answer is that it is the government’s next attempt to find more money. Unfortunately for the government, this little “move” is no longer hidden and is causing quite an uproar.

In our past articles we’ve discussed a variety of ways that this activity will cause greatly increased administrative burdens to both small and large businesses. As Silkin Management Group clients are all small businesses, we felt it important to keep everyone educated on this matter.

Today, I read maybe the best write up of how intrusive this legislation will be. You can link to this article here: http://www.naturalnews.com/028854_1099_small_business.html

As the author points out, “Remember: The new law will require 1099s to be issued to both individuals and corporations. This means that a musician who buys an expensive new guitar will have to send the retailer a 1099 at the end of the year for that purchase. A florist will have to send 1099s to each of her suppliers as well, including the flower growers, the ribbon company and even the place where she buys tape and scissors if those purchases exceeded $600 throughout the year.”

“Can you imagine having to track and tally every single business purchase you make throughout the year and send 1099 forms to all of them? How about having to collect names and taxpayer identification numbers from every vendor or payee that you dealt with? Can you imagine how long it would take on the phone with Wal-Mart customer service to try to obtain the company’s tax ID? Multiply this by the other five hundred companies you do business with, and you start to get an idea of the new burden this is going to place on small businesses across America.”

Read the whole article and you’ll find it eye opening, or should I say eye popping.

You can be pro-active about this by writing your Congressman and Senator about this absurdity. Maybe someone will listen.

Jack Hennessy
Silkin Management Group Consultant

For more information about Silkin Management Group or Silkin Management Group’s services, visit our website at: www.silkinmanagementgroup.com and/or email us at: info@silkinmanagementgroup.com.



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MORE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NEW HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL

April 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Small Businesses Still Have Many Unresolved Issues

We’ve been continuing to research and write about the ramifications of the new health care legislation on our various Silkin Management Group blog sites. Since all Silkin Management Group clients are small businesses, we find it vital to keep a close eye on how this bill will be implemented and how that will affect not only our clients, but all small businesses.

Today I read an interesting article which you can access here: http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/04/26/making-sense-of-the-new-health-care/?test=latestnews. This article covered an event put on by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in which a panel of experts discussed the legislation.

This article points out the following key issues:

• Employers are confused about adding dependants to existing policies and how much that will cost them.
• Tax guidelines for employers and employees are unclear.
• Employers who have to make decisions about their health care coverage for the next year are in a precarious position as the Department of Health and Human Service has not yet issued many needed guidelines to facilitate the decision making process.
• Yearly caps on benefits are not resolved.
• What changes plans grandfathered from the new law will have to make to maintain exempt status.
• Tax reporting requirements for small businesses will add costs for small businesses.
• Requirements for tax credits are very limited.

The article also gave a great example of how a business could use the new law to stop paying health care insurance for its employees and save a large amount of money. But, by doing so, it will increase the federal government’s cost and, if enough companies do this, it could result in another underfunded government program. Here’s the example given in the article:

“Monday’s event included the release of a study sponsored by the Chamber analyzing the impact of the new law which its backers said would insure more Americans while containing costs. The report cited a small Philadelphia trash company that has 55 full-time employees and spends $600,000/year on health care costs. In 2014, if the company decided to drop its health plan, it would pay $50,000 in fines. In other words, the study shows, the company will save $550,000 by not offering its workers health insurance and forcing them to find insurance on their own.”

We will continue to research up to date articles and information about this legislation in the attempt to keep Silkin Management Group clients and anyone reading our Silkin Management Group blogs informed about the latest questions and answers regarding this massive piece of legislation.

Dave McKevitt
Silkin Management Group Consultant

For more information about Silkin Management Group and our services, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com. You can also contact us at: info@silkinmanagementgroup.com.



Filed Under: Legislation, Small business Tagged With: , , ,

EQUALITY FOR ALL

December 22, 2009 By 3 Comments
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The Latest in the Health Care Reform Bill

Over the last few months, those of us at Silkin Management Group who have been contributing articles for our blog sites have been watching the progress of the various health care legislation proposals that have travelled through the House of Representatives and Senate.  You can easily find earlier writings on this subject on the various Silkin Management Group blog sites.

As most everyone knows by now, the Senate passed its first major voting hurdle on December 20 by confirming the needed 60 votes to pass their version of the legislation. What I found especially fascinating, but not at all surprising, was the numerous “pay offs” made to various Senators to get their vote.  These “payoffs” benefited specific states and constituencies while leaving out the majority of the rest of the people of the country.   In my mind, this is politics as usual: if you need votes to pass a piece of legislation, give the elected official special perquisites that will make him look good with his constituents and assure him of re-election. Democracy in action.

Gosh, I thought the health care legislation was to help everyone in the country. That’s what we were told. Where did I go wrong?  OK, enough snide comments on the obvious politics as usual. It doesn’t seem to matter which party is in control, they both end up doing the same thing.

I read n article in the New York Times that got me thinking about this.  You can link to that article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/health/policy/21healthcare.html?th&emc=th

Here are just a few of the special benefits given out:

  • Money for people exposed to asbestos from a vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana which secured the vote of Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana (who happens to be the chairman of the Finance Committee.
  • Additional Medicaid money for the state of Nebraska in order to secure the vote of Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson.
  • $100 million to an unnamed “health care facility” affiliated with an academic health center at a public research university in a state where there is only one public medical and dental school.  Who is this for?

There are several others you can read about in the NY Times article.

As small business owners, Silkin Management Group clients must learn to live on their own production, management expertise and capabilities.  Our programs are designed to help them do so as we all know that we aren’t getting the government handouts.

For more information about Silkin Management Group contact us at: info@silkinmanagementgroup.com or call 800-695-0257.  You can also visit our website: www.silkinmanagementgroup.com

Jack Hennessy

Consultant, Silkin Management Group



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