Quick Summary
One of the first and most critical to-do’s for any business owner is to obtain health insurance as soon as possible. The most important reason for this is to protect yourself and your family from losing more than just your good health.
Without health insurance, your family and business may be one major illness or injury away from financial struggles or even bankruptcy. Over four-in-ten people surveyed by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2016 said medical bills had a major impact on their families. And nearly one-in-five people with medical bills problems said they declared bankruptcy. This is a devastating consequence for not only you and your family, but for your business – which means your employees, partners, and their families suffer the losses as well.
On the bright side, over half of the small firms in the U.S., which employed between three and 199 employees, offered health insurance benefits in 2017, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
There may also be legal reasons to acquire health insurance. The individual mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), requiring individuals to have health insurance coverage or face an IRS penalty, was repealed and will be effective in 2019. The mandate remains for 2018, however.
If your business employs 50 or more full-time employees, the ACA requires you to offer affordable, qualified health insurance coverage for workers, or you’ll receive an IRS penalty.
