Replace Expensive Small Group Health Plans with Affordable Individual Plans

Dawn Cook — Wed, 08 May 2019 19:47:19 +0000

Are you struggling to pay your group health insurance premiums?

As a small business owner (less than 7 employees), are you struggling to pay the monthly premium for your group health insurance? Sadly many small business owners have to answer “yes” to this question and it is very stressful since they do want to continue to offer health insurance benefits to their employees, but it has to be affordable for the business. Luckily there are some other options that could be more affordable as many small businesses have discovered. If you only have 3 – 7 employees, you may want to consider an alternative to fully funded group plans.

Why are group health insurance premiums high?

Fully insured group health insurance rates through insurance carriers are usually based on all employees as a group, with no ability to consider the cost savings that are there for the healthy employees, the group health premiums are quite high. Said a little differently, with some group health coverage, insurers cannot base their premium prices on the medical history of any one individual in the group, but instead must account for a wide variety of statistical illnesses for the entire population of the group. Group premiums

could be less if insurers could base it on the medical history of each employee and if a larger percentage of the employees are in good health with no pre-existing conditions. So it really comes down to what type of group coverage you have in place. Fully insured can be very expensive because the entire group rates are based on the entire group. Level funded group coverage may be something to consider if your group is younger and healthy. This type of insurance usually requires at least 10 employees or more for the deepest savings.

What this means for you and your business?

If your business has less than 7 employees, you probably have a group plan currently in place, and most of your employees are in good health (the most savings is available when employees have no pre-existing conditions), there may be lower premiums that you are missing out on. An analysis can be done to determine if

individual health insurance plans for each employee would produce a lower total premium over your current group health insurance premium. Individual plans may also offer more flexibility in choice for each employee which employees appreciate. As a small employer (less than 7 employees), by law, you can provide individual health insurance plans to your employees over the group plan.

What your next step should be if you want to know if your business could benefit?

Contact a local insurance agency with experience in this cost savings employee health insurance approach, like Safeguard Assurance LLC. They will need an employee census and your current group plan premium and benefit summary for analysis and comparison. They will then be able to evaluate the options and crunch the numbers for you to determine if significant savings is available and if it makes sense to make a change. We at Safeguard Assurance keep our client’s best interests as our top priority and we’ll tell you if making no change is the best option for you.

Affordable Group Insurance | Cheap Health Insurance | Bradenton FL | Sarasota FL

Small Business Insurance | Safeguard Assurance

Replace Expensive Small Group Health Plans with Affordable Individual Plans