One issue that small business owners have grappled with has centered on finding affordable health insurance for their employees. Restaurant owners, as part of a bigger push within the insurance industry, think they’ve found a solution: the Restaurant and Hospitality Association Benefit Trust Health Plan, a brainchild of United Healthcare and the National Restaurant Association (NRA).
Plan Meets Requirements of the Affordable Care Act
The plan allows restaurants that are members of the NRA with two to 99 full-time employees to offer its workers healthcare benefits comparable to the insurance plans that large restaurants provide their employees. The program, which meets all requirements of the Affordable Care Act, offers restaurateurs more than 120 plan designs that were created to suit all budgets.
Restaurateurs Hope Plan Will Increase Employee Retention
Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, said one of its key objectives is to help smaller companies retain valued employees. A 2017 State of the Industry report, in fact, revealed the restaurant industry’s turnover rate, for the first time since 2008, surpassed 70 percent. In fact, the exact figure for 2017 was 72.1 percent. According to the report, some three out of ten restaurant owners had job openings they found hard to fill.
“Restaurant employees are our greatest asset,” Sweeney said, “and we want to ensure that they receive the best health care available.” She added that “it is those people – the hardworking servers, cooks, bussers, bartenders and dishwashers – who provide a memorable dining experience.” So from an economic perspective, it only makes sense to offer employees and job candidates access to affordable healthcare.
Plan Also Offers Access to Wellness Programs
In addition to affordable healthcare plans for member employees, the Restaurant & Hospitality Association Benefit Trust offers small restaurants access to a variety of wellness programs that have become extremely popular in recent years, yet have traditionally been available mainly to larger companies. United Healthcare also offers NRA members several exclusive plans through its hospitality associations alliance program.
