Medical benefits are extremely important to employees in today�s economic environment. At a time when many families have faced lay offs and one or both spouses are unemployed, medical benefits play a larger role in determining which company a candidate ultimately chooses to work for. If a spouse has been laid off the burden of providing medical benefits for the family ultimately falls on the other spouse. Therefore, it is advantageous to offer medical benefits to employees in order to retain them and attract new, experienced employees. Medical benefits are expensive for business owners, but the cost can be shared with the employee in order to alleviate the expense on the company.