​In an effort to reduce the cost of health insurance for consumers and increase enrollment rates throughout the state, the Governor and Legislature enacted initiatives designed to bring quality health care within reach of a larger demographic through Covered California. Though bold, estimates suggest that the new initiatives will save California residents hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly premiums and ensure that middle class individuals have access to financial assistance. It is hoped that by lowering the cost of health care for Californians, small businesses will be able to expand, hire more personnel, buy new equipment and realize their full potential. 

​Managing employee benefits and human resources the old-fashioned way is time-consuming and making errors is far too easy. Fortunately, technology may provide a way for HR administrators to save time and money while also ensuring greater accuracy. Sackett & Associates Insurance Services’ HR platform may help you supercharge your human resources operations.

​The older people become, the higher their health care costs climb. In fact, a Washington Post article reported that in just one year, seniors could withdraw as much as $3,789 each from their retirement savings and nest eggs to pay for medical bills. After retirement, many seniors rely on Medicare to provide health insurance coverage. However, it will not cover all the necessary medical expenses they may have. Because of this, many may choose to seek out Medicare supplemental insurance. Before you take the plunge, here are four things you need to consider first.

One of the many challenges of being a small business owner is needing to wear many hats for your company to thrive. Even when you hire professionals to handle the final end work, you may handle a lot of the back-end activities yourself. 

​When insurance companies first learned of Covered California, they estimated that they would lose millions of dollars. According to CNN, they did. However, after a few years of navigating the system and improving other aspects of business, insurance companies finally began to make money from Covered California in 2018. Bloomberg notes that their formula for success was a simple one: premium increases. One Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that health insurance premiums increased by roughly 32% in 2018. 

According to CBS Los Angeles, people who rely on California’s health insurance marketplace will see an average premium increase of only 0.8% for 2020. California’s decision came in response to federal attacks on Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Rather than see millions of Californians lose coverage, the state worked the ACA into state law. It restored the individual mandate and put in place an informal rate cap funded by state subsidies. To put this into better perspective, note that California premiums typically increase by 7.9% each year, as it has since 2014.