We are a small telecommunications equipment dealer and have approximately 20 employees....how are the smaller companies handling the increases? Are you passing the cost on to ee or is the company absorbing? Are you making any changes, add or delete, to the current health plan? (Our health plan is PPO with a $250 or $1000 deductible.) Any suggestions would be very welcome....

You might want to look at installing a Section 125 Plan, you could then cost share the increase, but the impact on the employees is reduced by @ 30% when the employees pre-tax their portion of the premium. The addition of the medical flexible spending account would also assist in addressing the deductable. This would improve your benfit package while addressing the cost issue.