(The following is an excerpt from a Columbus, GA newspaper article. The link for the full text is provided below).

Our small business and our marriage was less than a year old when my appendix attacked me with a vengeance. A week-long hospital stay ensued. Every time I rolled over for a $150 pain shot, I saw [1] dollar signs tumbling down my IV drip. My dad joked with my husband that my warranty had run out the day I’d said, “I do.” Little did he know that the hospital bill totaled more than my and my husband’s net worth. Combined.

We didn’t have much, but we did have the foresight to know that having health insurance was a good business decision. It was expensive, but this need was given priority over our wants. We wanted a nicer office, we wanted to replace the cars that had gotten us through college, and we wanted something other than macaroni and cheese for dinner. But we needed health insurance.

Had we been uninsured, I’m convinced my little medical episode would have left us with close to nothing. And “close to nothing” doesn’t build a small business.

In my opinion, a business owner’s need for health insurance coverage is not an option. But as a small business grows and hires employees, it’s faced with the decision to offer group health insurance to its employees. There’s no law that says you have to, but it is one of the most desirable benefits you can make available. It gives you an edge for recruiting and keeping the best employees and plays a part in decreasing absenteeism and increasing productivity.

Even business owners aren’t expected to know everything, and insurance is one of those things you sure can’t learn overnight. I’ve had the same insurance for the past seven years, and I still don’t completely understand it. The pressure of reviewing all the options and selecting a group policy for employees can be overwhelming.

A good place to begin is with a knowledgeable, independent insurance agent. Independent agents have access to several group health insurance companies’ plans, so there’s flexibility in finding a plan tailored to fit your small business. If you’re truly at square one, let the agent know that, first and foremost, you want to learn about how group health insurance policies work. Only then will you be able to make an intelligent decision about what you want to, or can, do. At a leadership conference last week in Atlanta, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning said, “Pressure is what you feel when you don’t know what you’re doing.” So find out what you’re doing. If the agent appears to be selling instead of educating, move on to be educated elsewhere.