SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 21, 2005--As recent surveys underscore the depth of the national healthcare crisis, Benefit Solutions by GE is strengthening a portfolio of products to help small business and its employees cope with spiraling healthcare costs.
About 40 percent of companies nationwide do not offer healthcare benefits to employees, compared to 31 percent in 2000. The vast majority of companies that have eliminated health benefits have fewer than 200 employees, according to a national employer health benefits survey conducted by the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation. Meanwhile, a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found more than one-third of U.S. businesses expect at least some of their employees to drop their health insurance due to rapidly rising costs.
"It's clear that employees at many small businesses need help," said Eric Kirchner, national sales leader for Benefit Solutions by GE, GE's line of employee health discount and legal benefit products. "There is a huge and growing demand for programs that can help employees defray the high costs of healthcare."
Benefit Solutions by GE provides a portfolio of non-insurance health discount options that can be incorporated separately or as a group, including medical, dental, vision, prescription and supplemental options. GE also provides legal assistance benefit programs that help businesses combat a leading cause of absenteeism and employee stress.
"Employees are spending money and time on health and legal issues today more than ever before," said Kirchner. "So businesses are looking for useful, cost-effective enhancements to their benefit programs. That's where GE can help."
"We can provide employers what they need to round out their benefit portfolios, so they can recruit great new employees and take better care of the ones they have," said Kirchner.
Benefit Solutions by GE incorporates a wide range of options for health discount and legal services. Employers are able to select the benefits that best suit their businesses, thereby providing employees meaningful, on-the-spot savings.
About Benefit Solutions by GE:
Benefit Solutions by GE, part of GE Consumer Finance, is a leading provider of convenient employee benefit options including health discount programs, dental discount plans and innovative legal coverage. For more information, call 1-847-605-4853 or e-mail [email protected]. With $150 billion in assets, GE Consumer Finance, a unit of General Electric Company, is a leading provider of credit services to consumers, retailers and auto dealers in 47 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.geconsumerfinance.com. GE (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work -- a diversified technology, media and financial services company focused on solving some of the world's toughest problems. For more information, visit www.ge.com.
Contacts
GE Consumer Finance
Gene Ullrich, 847-605-7005
Mobile: 847-471-5661
[email protected]
Cristy Williams
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678.518.2596