It’s estimated that about 72 percent of small business owners are actually concerned about the cost per employee of standard health care plans. While it may seem unusual that more than a quarter of business owners might not be deeply concerned about the over all cost of employee healthcare, it’s important to realize that costs for healthcare and insurance will only continue to rise, so it makes more sense for anyone who owns a business to start caring about the financial burdens of healthcare and start offering benefits for employees.
However, the Medicare system in Canada is cost effective, mainly because of their administrative simplicity. In addition, the Medicare system in Canada is publicly funded, with most services provided by the private sector. This means that healthcare is mostly free and has most services provided by private entities. Around a third of Canadian health expenditures come from private sources, both insurance and out of pocket payments.
In a recent survey, it was learned that about 91 percent of Canadians prefer their healthcare system instead of the U.S. health care system. Companies that have health benefits like employee health insurance and group health benefit plans are generally the most successful at providing benefits for employees. These companies have to pay for the services themselves, but for companies pulling in billions of dollars in annual profits, providing employee benefits and other health benefits plans is affordable.
For the most part, health insurance in Canada generally covers surgery and services in clinics as well as doctors office. It sometimes covers dental surgery at dental offices and laboratory tests as well. At the end of the day, benefits for employees are costly, but combined with the publicly funded Medicare system, people in Canada have a very good insurance system that makes it affordable to seek medical attention, get routine medical services and also have the peace of mind to know they will not go bankrupt trying to pay for costly medical care.
Having health insurance for small businesses will allow the workers feel secure and cared for, and it will also make for a better and closer knit work environment. While Americans struggle to face the reality of being uninsured because of high healthcare costs, countries that are already providing benefits at little or no cost are leading the way. Benefits for employees may not be offered everywhere, but hopefully soon, they will be.
