An Entrepreneur's Journey

Let's introduce you to Brad. Brad is a plumber by trade. Eight years ago, Brad decided to begin a new journey. He made the jump to self-employment and started his own plumbing business.

Like many other small business owners, Brad is doing a lot more than just running the business. He's also:

1. Managing payroll.
2. Taking sales calls.
3. Visiting job sites.
4. Ensuring his customers are happy.

This year, Brad's employees started asking about a benefits plan.

Brad values his team and wants to make them feel rewarded for their hard work over the years. Like any good business owner, he started looking at group benefit options.

The insured option: pricey premiums and shared costs

Brad began his search by getting quotes from the big insurance companies. Unfortunately, the same answer kept coming up: he would need to pay about $400 per month per employee for a plan that provided the coverage he was looking for.

That was out of Brad's reach.

The stodgy old insurers gave Brad another option: he could share the cost with his employees. Brad’s business would pay $200 per month, but then he would have to ask his employees to pay the other half, so together they could afford that $400 per month group benefits plan.

Brad thought to himself: is this providing value for my employees?

Although the business could take a tax deduction for its portion of the cost, his employees’ portion would have to be paid with after-tax dollars, which would cost them $250 for a $200 benefit.

Now how is that fair? (It's not!)

The real cost of benefits plans

Let’s break things down:

That means that if employees didn’t end up making $5,400 in claims, they would be giving up part of their compensation (both what Brad is paying for their benefits, and what they have to pay for benefits) to an insurance company as unused premiums.

Let's say they did claim the entire amount in a year. Because health and dental are paid for by each group’s premiums, then next year's premiums would likely shoot through the roof, and Brad would be back in the same spot, looking for an entirely new benefit plan.

Brad wanted to find a better option, one that would not only fit his budget but provide his employees with the value they deserved.

Eventually, Brad got in touch with us, and he had a straightforward question: "I can afford $200 a month for each employee, is that enough for a decent benefits plan?"

Our answer: "You bet!"

A Benefits Plan that Makes Sense!

We recommended a Health Spending Account (HSA) for Brad’s business.

In a Health Spending Account, the business owner contributes funds for each employee. Those funds are held in trust for the employee and can be used to reimburse eligible medical expenses (if you want to get technical, check out our list of what is eligible).

Unlike plans where healthcare is insured, the employee gets 100% coverage, no category limits, and no deductibles. They can use it for anything that would typically be covered under those traditional plans, plus much more. The only limit on reimbursement amounts is how much they have in their account.

Brad’s solution: our HSA Classic

Brad selected our HSA Classic for his team. In addition to helping control costs for the business, our HSA Classic isn’t use-it-or-lose-it. If an employee doesn’t use their full HSA amount on medical expenses in a year, they can carry forward the contributions towards the next year's medical costs.

Unlike insured healthcare benefits, with a Health Spending Account, there are no unexpected plan increases. Brad will be the decision-maker on how much it will cost him each year.

Like any other Health Spending Account, Brad's contributions to the HSA Classic are tax-deductible to his business and tax-free to his employees for their medical expenses.

Now Brad is in control and providing real value for his employees

With Blendable, Brad found a benefit plan that he can provide to his employees where they won't waste money on unused premiums. The added bonus – he's always in control of the cost.

Every Blendable benefit plan is completely customizable and can be tailored to suit each business's unique needs. We can combine the best Peace of Mind insurance (Life, Critical Illness, Long Term Disability) with the best health and dental benefits coverage.

In Brad's case, he decided to add a great feature to his HSA Classic, Emergency Travel coverage. With the low cost and the knowledge that he wasn't going to be faced with unexpected benefit plan increases, he was more than happy to provide his employees with this added feature.

Key Take-Aways

What did we learn from Brad's story? Let's look at some of the key take-aways:

• Cost control without sacrificing benefits. Brad is the only one that will decide how much he is going to pay.
• Flexibility. Brad gets to make a customizable benefit plan that works perfectly for his business.
• Retention. With this new benefit plan, his employees will feel valued and continue working for Brad, knowing they'll be covered and won't have to worry.

If you want to realize the benefits like brad and so many others, get in touch with our team today!

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