TRBenefits | San Jose Group Health Insurance Broker

The Importance of Having Group Health Insurance for Your Business

 Getting protection for your business is the most important thing you can do. If you run a business and people work for you, then you face lots of risks. People can get injured while they are performing their duties and when they do, you must ensure they are protected. Business group insurance is how you can protect your employees. In this post, we’ll take a look at what is business group health insurance, why you need it for your business and how you can get it to protect your employees.

What Is Business Group Health Insurance?

Business group health insurance is also known as employer-sponsored or job-based health insurance. This is a type insurance policy that an employer offers to employees. It’s also available to the dependents of the employees.

The employer and employee split the premium costs. Included in this type of policy is a percentage rate that the company must pay, for the premium. Premiums can increase after careful evaluation of the previous healthcare cost for the group.

Group health insurance allows for the risk to be spread equally among the people on the insurance. With this spreading of risk, an insurance company can offer insurance at a discount.

The Importance of Having Group Health Insurance

Employees are important to your business. For your business to be successful, you must keep the people working for you protected. The way for you to do this is to have protection for them in the form of group health insurance. Group health insurance creates an opportunity for employees to get comprehensive protection at an affordable price.

If an employee gets injured, and they need medical attention this insurance helps to provide them with coverage. Whenever they or the persons included on their insurance need medical care, they can receive it more affordable than if they did not have this insurance.

How to Get Group Health Insurance

To get the right group health insurance, you must find the right company for your business. The right company is one who takes the time to work with you to create a policy that fits your business.

They will take time to sit with you and carefully look over your business to help you to find the right protection for your business. Another good way to get the best protection for your business is to work with a broker. Kaiser Permanente is one such company that works with you to get the protection you need. They offer affordable healthcare for businesses who need it.

Conclusion

Protecting your employees is the best thing you can do for the growth of your business. Keeping your staff protected helps them to trust you more. It helps to feel like you care about them. Group health insurance is an affordable way to protect your business. In this post, we looked at what group health insurance is, why it’s important and what you can do to get it for your business. So, protect your business today when you get group health insurance.

How to Get Group Health Insurance for Your Business

Affordable health insurance is important for the growth of a small business. Keeping your staff protected is how you can keep your business thriving for the long term. There are many risks you face when operating a business which makes having small group health insurance necessary. One of the biggest risks you face is the injury of an employee. With Small Group Health Insurance, you help to protect your staff and their families. If setting up a small group health insurance plan is what you want to do, then this post is for you. In this post, we’ll look at some of the benefits of Small Group Health Insurance and how you can get it for your business.

What Is Small Group Health Insurance?

Group medical insurance is a policy issued by a business to its employees. It’s an insurance coverage plan offered by an employer to their employees. Usually, this type of insurance requires the employer to pay a certain percentage of the premium. The cost for the insurance is split between the employee and the employer.

Benefits of Small Group Health Insurance

Many benefits come with having small group health insurance. The biggest advantage is that it helps to make healthcare more affordable for staff. Affordable healthcare is a significant benefit for both the organization and its employees. Let’s take a look at some more of the benefits which come with having this type of insurance.

Availability of Affordable Healthcare Services

The first major benefit of having this type of insurance is that it helps your employees to take better care of their health. It also helps them to take the necessary precautions to prevent major health conditions from affecting their life.

With affordable health care services employees now have the opportunity to get regular checkups. Regular check-ups allow your employees to keep their health in check which creates a healthier staff.

Improved Financial Security

When an unexpected health issue affects the life of an employee, it can mean having to spend lots of money. However, with group insurance, they have better financial security because of the affordability group insurance. When an employee needs medical attention, this insurance will help with any expenses they incur.

Group insurance eliminates the need for worrying about being burdened with debt because of an unexpected health issue. With this insurance, your employee is better able to cope with illness as they won’t be subjected to debt because of an unexpected health problem.

Conclusion

To safeguard your business, you must invest in the protection of your employees. Many risks come with operating any business, but you can lower that risk by having insurance. Now that we’ve taken a look at some of the benefits of small group health insurance you should now have an idea of what to expect when you get this type of insurance for your business. Take the time to speak with an insurance professional and find the group insurance plan that fits you.

The Benefits of Getting Group Health Insurance for Your Organization

Life is unpredictable, and many things happen that we just aren’t prepared for. If you own a business one of these things are the injury of your employees. The type of unpredictability we’ll be focusing on is health related problems of employees. To remedy this possible problem, one must offer group health insurance to their staff. Group Health Insurance helps to provide assistance if your employee ever needs medical attention. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at what group health insurance is, how it benefits your company and how you can provide this benefit to your employees.

What Is Group Health Insurance?

Group health insurance assists with providing health care coverage to a group of people. It helps to make healthcare affordable for the staff of a company. This type of coverage also provides many benefits for the employer and the employee. Group health insurance plans are one the biggest benefits a company can offer to their staff.

The Benefits of Group Health Insurance

Having group health insurance for your business offers many advantages. One of the biggest ones is making health care services affordable for employees. Healthcare could be expensive if an employee were to get it on their own. Fortunately, you can set up a group health care coverage within your organization and allow them and their families to access the best health services.

With healthcare being more available employees will feel better when it comes to having regular check-ups. This is one of the biggest benefits for you the employer. When your employees feel better about getting regular checkups due to the affordability, it can help them to spot health problems from early. By detecting any health problems early, they can deal with them early and protect their health. All of this creates a more efficient workforce and improves the overall productivity of your business.

How Can You Get This Type of Insurance?

Getting this type of insurance begins with finding the right company. When looking for insurance, you want to work with an experienced insurance agent who’ll work with you to discuss the needs of your business.

A good insurance company helps you to find what type of protection your business needs and helps you to create the right group plan for your business. If you are serious about offering group protection to your employees, then you can also work with a broker to get the best deals.

Conclusion

To improve the overall productivity of any business one must ensure that the people working stay protected. Protecting your employees provides many benefits to your company. The way you’d go about protecting your employees is by offering group health insurance in your business. With group health insurance, you give your employees the opportunity to have affordable healthcare.

Affordable healthcare means your employees won’t hesitate to get medical attention. Getting medical care from early may stop serious health issues which then results in less sick days. Less sick days helps to create an efficient workforce. Protect your business and get group health insurance for your employees.

The Benefits of Offering Small Group Benefit to Your Workers

If you would like to understand more about group health insurance and why it’s right for your business, then you’ll want to read every word on this page. Specifically, we’ll talk about what group health insurance is and how it can be beneficial for your business.

Businesses and Group Health Insurance

Group insurance is an insurance plan that you provide to the employees of your company at a discounted rate from insurers. The way these groups plan typically work is that everyone is pooled together which allows everyone to receive similar benefits. By doing this, they can reduce the costs and speed up the process of getting people approved.

With this type of health insurance plan, you can cover your spouse, children and anyone else you want to put on your insurance. Depending on the kind of plan the company you work for has chosen for their employees, you may be required to co-pay a small amount each time you visit the doctor’s office. Whatever else you have to pay is covered by the company which allows you to save more money.

Benefits of Groups Health Insurance

The biggest advantage of this type of insurance is that it makes insurance more affordable for all employees. By making insurance more affordable workers are put in a better position to take care of their health. When an employee can take care of their health, they can stay healthier longer. Healthier workers improve the overall efficiency of the company.

How to Get Insurance for Your Small Business

Buying a health insurance plan is how you get started. An option for group health insurance is SHOP. SHOP means Small Business Health Options. SHOP is an insurance program that offers companies with 50 employees or fewer, health insurance for their team.

To find the best insurance for your company, it’s a good idea to work with a broker. Working with a broker is of particular importance if you are a company that’s still trying to figure out how to offer health benefits to your employees.

Working with an agent allows you to assess the needs of your business carefully and find a plan that works best for you. The best part about working with a broker is that it won’t cost you any more than if you were looking for insurance on your own. Doing this should allow you to get the best protection for your employees.

Conclusion

Group health insurance can be confusing if you don’t understand what it’s about. You know you need it for your business, but you just don’t understand it enough. With so much confusion around health insurance, you may even be more confused as to why you should even offer it to your employees. After reading this post, you should have a better idea of what health insurance is, how it benefits you and your team and how you can get it for your business. Health insurance is a requirement for most employees when they are considering working for a company. Get group health insurance today and give your employee the confidence they need.

Things You Need to Know About Group Health Insurance Plans

A group health insurance policy is one of the many benefits employers offer to their employees (and often the employee’s family) for working for the company. It’s a very popular employee benefit as it provides insurance coverage to more than half of the Americans.

The Advantages

First things first, one of the major advantages of such insurance policies is that they are purchased by the employer, and usually half or more of the required total monthly contribution comes from the employer. Similarly, most employees in the U.S. are covered under “POP” plans, or Premium Only Plans, allowing them to make their part of the contribution on a pre-tax basis.

Also, the employer’s contribution isn’t taxable for the employees, and there are also many other tax benefits for the employees covered under a POP plan. This makes these plans heavily subsidized when it comes to taxation.

Apart from that, such group insurance plans are also very affordable. Since group insurance is more about getting insurance coverage due to a common factor than a necessity, insurance companies are usually more than willing to offer plans at considerably cheaper rates than what you would get while purchasing individual plans. This makes these plans a win-win for both employees and employers.

Then there’s also a great advantage particularly for employers that encourages them to provide group insurance coverage to their employees. Offering great employee benefits to the best workers is perhaps considered one of the most effective ways of retaining the best employees. Similarly, a great group health insurance plan also attracts new talent to your company.

It also goes without saying that a better overall health of your employees means less unplanned leaves and an improved morale of workers.

Are All Such Policies the Same?

Technically speaking, no, all such policies aren’t the same. Firstly, the laws governing these policies may vary from state to state. Secondly, with the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the federal government, too, has laid down several regulations regarding such insurance plans.

This is especially true for those who also purchase a different plan on their own, as well as those working for small companies. Basically, things tend to differ when it comes to working for a small company as compared to working for a big company.

Any company having less than 50 full-time or the “equivalent” of full-time employees is considered a small company. All the other businesses having a larger employee base are considered large employers. That being said, the laws are different for the coverage offered by both of them, and the premium tends to differ as well.

What if I Lose Access to the Group Insurance Coverage?

Millions of people who lose access to their group insurance coverage due to losing their job, divorce, or other such reasons, may still be allowed to keep their group coverage for a certain period of time. Many are even able to continue with the group coverage without any time limitations, thanks to the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA).

However, COBRA doesn’t exist in all the states (and doesn’t apply to all employers), but in some of the states it doesn’t, there are actually better options that offer more generous benefits.

Finally, you may want to be sure about how it may affect you by going through the benefit summary booklet provided by your employer.

Things You Need to Know About Health Insurance Brokers and Agents

Depending on the broker or agent you choose, they can be helpful when it comes to choosing the right health insurance plan for your family or your employees (if you’re a business). A good broker can also help save quite a bit of time and money, which you would probably otherwise spend trying to figure out the right product for your needs.

More importantly, however, going with a broker or agent while buying a health insurance plan may be the best way to not end up choosing a wrong plan, which can often be disastrous.

For instance, an experienced group Health Net health insurance broker may help businesses understand the different types of plans they can go for, even those that are being offered by another provider they work with as a broker.

Help you understand your insurance needs

Licensed brokers or agents are now officially known as insurance “producers”. As for why you may need one, the American health care system can be very confusing and complex. A good and knowledgeable insurance producer can explain the things you need to know about in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

Furthermore, they may even give you an insight of your insurance needs, which, in turn, will help you choose the right plan.

Types of insurance producers

“Captive” producers are typically those that work for a particular insurance provider as their employee. On the other hand, independent insurance producers don’t work for any particular provider, but with many of them, and get a percent of the plan amount or a flat fee as a commission.

Should you go with an agent or a broker?

Well, this choice can be really subjective and depends on a few different factors. An agent who works for a particular company as an employee may help you get better rates, better support, make it easier to change plans and connect you better with your provider.

A broker, on the other hand, can help you find a better fit by searching through the market for different plans and finding one that fits the bill perfectly for you.

While the decision may depend on your needs, it’s better to meet a few agents and brokers. Finally, also remember that working with multiple agents may not be a good idea, as it would be pretty much the same as working with a broker, but with limited advantages.

Why health insurance is different?

Unlike the other types of insurance, health insurance is very different. This is because buying the plan is only a small part of the process.

In fact, it’s also not very uncommon to switch plans a few years down the line, as the health insurance needs of your employees or family are constantly changing.

Hence, you would want to find an insurance producer who would not only help you choose the right health insurance plan, but also the right carrier, as it can be crucial as well when it comes to getting the support you need after purchasing the plan.

Understanding Requirements and Premium Rates for Small Group Health Insurance

Any company or business having less than 50 full-time or full-time “equivalent” employees is legally considered a small company or employer. Similarly, any business with more than 50 full-time employees would legally be a “large” employer.

The laws governing group health insurance policies for small businesses and large businesses tend to differ quite a bit, and this article will be discussing the ones related to small group health insurance, which is considered a very important employee benefit.

Understanding the Coverage Requirements

First things first, small businesses aren’t “legally” required to provide group health insurance coverage to their employees. However, many small employers still do so simply because it’s an important factor when it comes to attracting new talent and retaining the top employees.

Also, while the federal and state laws may apply to small employers, it depends on various factors, such as the number of employees, the type of business and whether the coverage is being provided through an insurance company.

However, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that the small group health insurance plans meet certain requirements. It has set different benchmarks to ensure that the employees get a certain level of benefit.

The different levels or “metal tiers” of benefits are simply based on what the plan pays of the average total medical expenses.

• Platinum plans: These are the best ones, but also the most expensive. They usually cover as much as around 90% of medical expenses
• Gold plans: These plans cover 80% of medical expenses
• Silver plans: A silver plan would usually cover around 70% of medical expenses
• Bronze plans: These are the most affordable ones and offer the least benefits, paying just around 60% of medical expenses

You may also want to note that the above mentioned tiers reflect the average medical expenses they may cover. It isn’t the same as coinsurance, which requires an individual to pay a certain percentage of the overall medical expenses.

There are also several other requirements when it comes to group insurance coverage, based on laws that are covered under the ERISA, HIPAA and other such acts.

Determination of the Premium Rates

After the introduction of the ACA, premium rates are determined in a very different way than they used to be. Basically, they are based on the modified community rating, which takes limited factors into consideration for coming up with the premium rates.

Such factors include age, geography or whether the employee is a smoker or not. So for example, the rate would be higher for a 50-year-old male employee who’s a regular smoker and suffers from cancer and a major health condition.

However, the rate would be same for providing insurance coverage to a 30-year-old healthy male employee and a 30-year-old male employee with diabetes.

Finally, depending on the state, an employer may be able to allow their employees to choose the insurance company. Similarly, they may also be able to offer them different plan options within a particular metal tier (platinum, gold, silver or bronze), or different plans at different levels.

What are the Small Group Benefits When it Comes to Insurance Coverage?

The 2012 U.S. Census revealed that there are around 28 million small businesses in the U.S. that provide employment to as many as 52.6 million Americans. Now, while it isn’t a legal requirement for small business to provide insurance coverage to their employees, it’s certainly one of the most important factors when it comes to recruiting and retaining top talent.

Traditional Plans vs. “Managed Care”

The small group benefits offered by a particular group health insurance plan depend on many different factors, including whether it’s a traditional plan or a “managed care” plan.

Traditional plans often come with higher premiums, but offer access to a wide range of doctors and hospitals. On the other hand, a managed care plan would usually cost considerably less, but it would be a little limited when it comes to choosing doctors and hospitals.

Both types of plans are sold by major health insurance providers, and most states require that the employer covers at least 50% of the premium costs.

However, many employers think that they need to pay 100% of the premium costs, discouraging them from offering this crucial employee benefit. But most of them agree that not offering adequate health insurance coverage affects their relationships with the employees in an adverse way, with as many as 75% revealing that their business suffers due to not offering small group benefits related to health insurance coverage to their employees.

Reasons for Providing Health Insurance Coverage to Your Employees

After going through the information shared above, it can be concluded that providing employees with health insurance coverage may not be as expensive as many employers think, and not doing so may not allow the business to grow at its full potential.

With that being said, let’s take a look at why a small business should consider providing health insurance coverage to its employees, though it isn’t required to.

Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent

As mentioned above, group insurance coverage is considered to be one of the most important employee benefits nowadays, and helps attract new talent. This is especially true when it comes to small companies, as most new employees may be tempted to join a large business instead of a small business.

However, great employee benefits, including group health insurance coverage, can help attract them to your company. Similarly, even some of your best employees may consider joining another company that offers better employee benefits at some point in the future, but a great group health insurance plan may prevent them from doing so.

Tax Benefits

There are also many tax benefits of offering group health insurance coverage to your employees, for both the employer and the employees. Firstly, all the expenses incurred for providing the insurance coverage would be 100% tax-deductible for the business.

Similarly, if the employer puts in some efforts to take care of the legal formalities, even the employees’ contribution can be made on a pre-tax basis. The employer can also make the employees’ contribution BEFORE paying them, so that they won’t have to deal with any tax liabilities related to their contribution and end up with a higher take-home pay than they otherwise would.

Well, there are many health insurance providers in California, and many of them well known for the attractive group insurance plans they offer. Blue Shield seems to be one of them.

However, it also seems to be offering some unique advantages, besides attractive plans and affordable rates. It also has a great broker program and offers useful resources for its brokers that help them serve their clients well.

A group Blue Shield health insurance broker would probably be more than capable of helping you figure out your business’ health insurance needs and choose a plan that would work best for you.

With that being said, let’s take a look at some of the advantages of going with Blue Shield group health insurance plans.

Higher Level of Flexibility for Small Businesses

While it’s not a legal requirement for small businesses to offer health insurance coverage to their employees, it’s pretty much a must anyway for attracting and retaining great talent and ensuring better employee loyalty.

However, it can still be challenging for many small businesses to offer attractive health insurance coverage to their employees, especially if they are on a tight budget. If that’s the case with you, Blue Shield’s PPO plans for small businesses may work well for you.

They come with a higher level of flexibility and clarity, and are designed specifically for businesses with 2 to 50 employees. There are also a wide range of plans to choose from, ranging from the ones that offer some very attractive benefits with no or low annual deductibles, to the ones that allow greater cost-sharing and affordable rates, but with relatively limited benefits.

There’s also perfect clarity about the pricing and benefits, allowing you to choose the plan that suits the needs of your business, as well as helping your employees figure out the right amount of coverage they need.

More Customized Solutions for Larger Businesses

Large businesses usually have a bigger budget, and are looking to offer a better level of medical care for their employees, but while also trying to meet their unique needs.

This makes Blue Shield one of the better options when it comes to group health insurance providers in the area, simply because it offers many different types of plans for large businesses that come with tailored benefits and specific financial arrangements to meet all the specific and unique needs of large businesses.

The Local Access+ HMO plans, for one, may be the best bet for businesses that are looking to shift to a more affordable group health insurance plan without compromising on some of the important benefits for their employees. As the name suggests, these plans would be more beneficial for seeking medical care in the local area, but also come with the feature to opt for out-of-state urgent care.

A Final Word

Blue Shield is probably an ideal group health insurance provider for businesses that are looking for a greater level of flexibility and a wide range of plans to choose from. It’s perhaps one of the few providers out there that allow you to offer quality healthcare services to your employees at affordable rates by customizing the plan benefits according to the needs of your business.

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While Kaiser Permanente offers many useful resources to help their new brokers find success quickly, there may still be quite a few other things you may need to learn. This is especially true when it comes to selling group health insurance plans, as there seems to be very stiff competition in the industry.

Also, quoting lower rates to try converting a lead into a sale is no longer effective, as most businesses nowadays know better and understand there are many other important things involved.

With that being said, here are the things you may need to learn in order to utilize the stage offered by Kaiser Permanente to turn into a successful group Kaiser Permanente health insurance broker.

Being a Consultant is a Must

If you think selling group health insurance plans is about being a great salesperson, you have got it all wrong. In fact, being a salesperson is probably the last thing you would want to do while selling such plans.

While you can use some of your sales skills to make the selling process more effective, it will eventually come down to how good you are as a consultant.

It’s more about understanding the business’ needs and offering an effective solution for it in terms of the right plan than anything else. It’s how you would usually get most of your sales.

Finding Out the Problems the Business is Dealing With

One of the important parts of the selling process is to figure out the challenges or problems the business is dealing with. While the business owner may not share them with you or think about how they can affect their employees’ insurance needs, it’s going to be your job to do that.

Try asking them relevant questions to find out about the problems so that you can come up with better solutions for them.

Understanding the Decision-Making Process

You also need to find out how the business’ decision-making process works, who are the officials involved, and who’s decision is going to be most influential.

This will, in turn, help you decide when to get the real decision makers involved, as well as understanding their specific needs and expectations. This will help you serve them better with your plan choices, making it more likely to turn them into a (long-term) client.

Be Practical

Talking about interesting theories may be good for a start, but they alone won’t cut it. You would eventually have to back your theories and claims with practical and valid evidence, including specific numbers relevant to the business.

This will help gain the confidence of your potential client, as well as give them a better insight about their insurance needs.

It Takes Longer than You Think

One of the most common mistakes many new brokers make is trying to close the deal as early as they could. This isn’t a very effective approach to say the least.

You would usually need to talk with your potential clients 7. 8. 9 or even more times to convince them to buy your product. However, it doesn’t mean talking to them just for the sake of it. You actually need to provide value every time you talk to them.

Finally, you would want to talk benefits instead of talking product. This helps connect with your potential clients them and build a relationship with them.