The cost of health insurance has been rising steadily for decades, and despite attempts by the Obama Administration to curb this with various plans and proposals, health insurance is still on the rise. Health insurance companies were recently required to publicly report on reasons for increasing premiums, and while this has helped to regulate costs to a degree, there are still many outside variables and causes upon which a premium increase can be blamed upon. With the cost of health care being as high as it is and nothing substantial to suggest a decrease in prices in the near future, many individuals are very content to have their employer provide business health insurance.

While providing health care benefits have immensely positive results amongst employees, this move is becoming taxing upon many businesses. However, there are several ways that businesses can reduce this amount while still providing adequate benefits to their employees. The first method involves getting the employees of a company to agree to pay higher deductibles on claims. A deductible is an amount that has to be paid by the beneficiary of the claim, and the higher this amount is, the lower the premiums.

A rather new approach adopted by many businesses is to keep employees in good health, therefore reducing the risk of claims which will raise premiums. Wellness programs and incentives to healthy living, such as flu shots, no-smoking rules, healthier food in the cafeteria and regular check-ups greatly reduce the risk of sickness amongst employees. Not only do these incentives lower your premiums (once checked by a business health insurance agent) but also means a healthier, more efficient task force.

Hard times call for hard decisions, and sometimes those include cutting back on certain benefits. Consulting with employees has been proven to be the best way to employ these cuts, as well as getting a team of experts to review the medical records of the employees so as to ascertain which benefits are necessary and which aren't. Health savings accounts are another popular option with smaller businesses, as these tax exempt accounts make for good savings and reduced costs overall. Another option is to opt for self insurance.

The advantages are that 100 percent of the money invested in health care is spent on health care, rather than with insurance companies, of which typically 60 percent is spent on health care as the remainder contributes to overhead. One can hope that the changes being proposed by the Senate and House will have an effect, but it is not wise to place hopes entirely on these plans. The best approach is to carefully evaluate what is needed, and to give thoughtful consideration to all available options.