FM Sept 04_PDF.qxd - Orlando Chamber of Commerce

CULTURE & TRENDS
COMMUNITY, CULTURE AND TRENDS. IT’S ALL REPRESENTED HERE.
Health Care Trends
Skyrocketing health care costs force three
in four organizations to make changes.
From The Society for Human Resource Management
Though only 3 percent of U.S. organizations
have considered eliminating health
care coverage for employees, 75 percent
have changed their health care plan design
in large part to the unmanageable cost
increases in recent years, according to the
2004 Health Care Survey by the Society for
Human Resource Management (SHRM).
“Health care costs have increased by
double digit percentages year after year,
forcing employers to grapple with the
consequences,” said Susan R. Meisinger,
SPHR, President and CEO of SHRM. To
retain the value of an attractive benefits
package, HR professionals are diligently
working to find the balance of health care
plans that are affordable and beneficial.”
Overwhelmingly, cost is the number
one factor in evaluating health care plans
with 93 percent of organizations using
cost as a prime piece of data in health care
evaluation. Contrast this to just 44 percent
evaluating their health plans based on quality
of treatment, only 14 percent evaluating
the outcomes of treatment and a mere
7 percent evaluating provider availability.
The data indicates that the focus has
become what a company can afford to offer
and what employees can afford to pay.
The number-one reason why adjustments
are made to employee health care
packages is because of cost, with 87 percent
reporting cost to employer as the reason for
making plan changes. The report shows
46 percent of employers report making
plan changes due to cost to employees.
Alternative Approaches
Faced with the challenge of providing
health care to employees while keeping
costs down, organizations are finding
alternative ways to approach the problem.
Many organizations are looking to
preventative measures to curtail health
Companies are faced with the challenge of providing health care to employees while keeping costs down.
SHNS photo by Michel Fortier/Naples Daily News
care costs. In fact, 67 percent of organizations
provide participant incentives to
encourage healthy behavior. To do this,
76 percent of respondents report using
Employee Assistance Programs to
promote healthy lifestyles. In addition,
52 percent use educational programs to
inform employees on how they can take
steps to improve their overall health.
Some companies (16 percent) are
partnering with other organizations to
purchase health care coverage collectively
to receive discounted group rates.
Grouping together is helping some
smaller organizations leverage their
buying power to get rates that were only
available to large organizations.
Seventy-four percent of survey
respondents support legal changes to
allow employees to band together to
purchase health care coverage.
Setting Examples
Central Florida Hispanic-owned companies
are among the country’s largest.
By José David Alvarez, HCCMO Director, CBR Public Relations
Have you heard the good news? If you
haven’t, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
of Metro Orlando is here to tell you.
According to this year’s Hispanic Business
500 Directory of the largest U.S. Hispanic-owned
companies, nine members of the Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando
Chamber are among the largest in the country.
Hispanic Business is one of the leading
Hispanic business publications in the
United States.
Contributing more than $375 million in
revenues to the local economy last year, these
businesses showcased Central Florida on a
national level as a region of opportunity for
minority business.
These companies were once ideas in the
minds of entrepreneurs who believed in Central
Florida as fertile ground for their dreams.
Today’s aspiring minority entrepreneurs should
take heart from the many successful and
extraordinary stories that have originated in
our region and bring their own ideas to life.
The Chamber congratulates those
members who made this year’s directory.
They include: Greenway Ford (#22), Jardon &
Howard Technologies Inc. (#78), Rolling Hills
Ford Inc. (#119), T&G Constructors Inc. (#198),
Advance Xerographics Imaging Systems (#265),
Rey Group (#293), D&A Building Services Inc.
(#390), Albors & Associates Inc. (#439) and
Maya Telecom Inc. (#475).
Keep up the good work, and thanks for
setting an example for Central Florida’s future
entrepreneurs!
For more on the Hispanic Business 500
Directory, visit www.hispanicbusiness.com.
For more on the Hispanic Chamber, call
407-428-5870 or visit www.hispanicchamber.net.
In celebration of the positive Hispanic influence in
Central Florida, the Orlando Regional Chamber of
Commerce features a monthly news story “en español”
in FirstMonday for your reading pleasure.
Siguen las pérdidas
millonarias tras los
atentados terroristas
Exportadores estadounidenses han perdido más de 30 mil millones
de dólares desde los atentados del 11 de septiembre en la ciudad de
NuevaYork, debido a el “manej oineficiente” del sistema de
procesamiento de visados, según reveló un estudio realizado por el
Grupo Santangelo de Washington, D.C.
Los resultados revelaron que entre las 29 naciones más afectadas
por las demoras en las visas a empresarios extranjeros están China,
Rusia e India, seguidas por Malasia, Indonesia y Corea. Entre los países
Latinoamericanos con más dificultades se encuentran Brasil,
Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala y México.
Las empresas medianas fueron las que más sufrieron, con pérdidas de
5.07 millones de dólares, mientras que las grandes compañías perdieron
1.14 millones y las pequeñas 580 mil dólares, en su mayoría en las áreas
de aeronáutica, tecnología, salud, farmacéutica, tiendas comerciales,
energía, automóviles, publicaciones, ingeniería y construcción,
aerolíneas comerciales e instituciones financieras, entre otras.
Para más información, visite www.uscis.gov.
34 SEPTEMBER 2004 FM