Group Health Insurance

Group Health Insurance and Employee Benefits for Businesses

Are you a small business (from 2- 50 employees) or are you self employed and looking to provide benefits for yourself, your family, and your new employees?   Whether you are just now looking at offering insurance to employees or have been doing so for years, CB Health Insurance can help!  We specialize in providing insurance benefits to companies with 2-50 employees.  We will shop the market and help you the find the best benefits that fit your needs AND your budget for you and your employees. 

Setting up a new group plan is easy; our staff can email you a census to complete and return to our office.  Within days, we can have quotes from all the top carriers, and can set up a conference call or Go To Meeting to review the quotes, pick a plan, and provide advice regarding contribution, participation, and requirements that Employers must abide by to comply with the ACA law.   Our office will provide the SBC (Summary of Benefits and Coverages) for you to provide to the employees during enrollment.  Our staff is here to help your employees decide on the best plan, look up providers, answer questions, and help them understand the plan benefits. 

PLEASE NOTE:  For Employer Groups with less than 5 employees enrolled (2-4), our office has implemented a nominal set up fee of $350 to help compensate for our time and services including providing quotes, consultations, reviewing and processing all forms; for Employers with 5-9 enrolling, the fee is $600.   This is a one-time, flat fee to set up a new group health plan or move a group to a new carrier; for groups with 10 plus employees enrolling, we do not charge a fee.  We have calculated an average of 10 hours of staff time to set up a group, and we are only compensated by the insurance companies based on the per employee enrollment.   With commissions cut by insurance carriers,  many brokers are no longer selling small group plans or charging up to $1000 to set one up.  We think our fee is reasonable, and in many cases we have saved our clients much more in premiums on a monthly basis than the fee we charge.  In addition, our office will advise you of the rules as they pertain to the ACA law, explain any requirements by the Insurance Carrier, assist in picking plans for you and your employees;  our staff can assist in completing all the paperwork involved in setting up the group as well.  Because we are paid on "per Employee" enrollment basis, the set-up fee helps compensate for our time, which can be upwards of 10 hours to set up a new small group.  We feel the value provided is worth the nominal fee, and are happy to continue to offer this service to small Employer Groups.    We do not currently charge a fee for groups with 10 employees or more enrolling in the group health plan.

Good Benefits Retain Great Employees

As a business owner, you take calculated risks everyday in order keep your business thriving. But what about the risks you haven't considered? Group health insurance for your employees is an excellent way to offer a needed benefit to employees (which is required by law for Employees to purchase in absence of having a group medical plan through their employer), and is a tax-deductible benefit to your company.   It is also an excellent way to retain great employees and recruit excellent talent.  Employees search not only for a good salary but for a benefit package that will protect them and their families.  By providing this basic coverage, employees will be happy and you can concentrate on profits and growing the business instead of losing key employees to competitors.

Regardless of what line of business you work in, a group Benefits package  can protect you in a host of ways, including:

• Making sure Employees have the needed insurance required by law
• Ensuring that Employees will have needed coverage should they get sick or injured
• Offering additional perks such as dental, vision, and flexible spending accounts that can all be funded by employees, but deducted from payroll BEFORE tax, saving you on the FUTA/FICA match.

The costs associated with offering a group medical plan can vary greatly depending on if you go the traditional, fully-insured route, or offer more minimal coverage that still meets the ACA requirements. (For companies looking to meet the minimum requirements set by law, a plan can be put in place for under $100/month per employee - ask for more information by emailing Cathy direct at cathy@cbhealthinsurance.com.  In the Subject line enter:  Send minimum requirement product to meet ACA requirements.  NOTE:  this is not recommended as a replacement for a fully-insured plan.  However, it is best suited for groups that currently offer NO health insurance benefits to employees and would like to comply with the law and possibly avoid the Employer Tax Penalty.)

How Will Your Business Handle These Situations?

In addition to offering a group medical plan, does your company have a policy that states what will happen to the benefits (and to the employee's salary) in the following situation:  

1. An employee takes a medical leave of absence sue to an extended illness or injury, or 
2. An employee takes a personal leave (maybe to care for a sick or dying relative in another state)?  

What if this person is the owner?  and what if you continue to pay them and keep them on the medical plan? Did you know that you have not previously documented how to handle these situations, you have now set a standard on how to handle this situation for ALL employees?  Maybe you would continue to pay the owner and provide medical benefits for other "Key" employees, but would you do the same for the rank and file? 

Employees get sick, Employee's family members get sick, and BEFORE this happens, it would be wise to put in writing the Company Policy on how this will be handled.  Will your company offer this an employee leave for 30, 60, 90 days, and thereafter term them and offer COBRA?  While on leave, will you continue to pay the Employer contribution towards their health insurance?  Will their salary continue?  For how long?  Have you ever offered the ability for your employees to purchase disability insurance to cover their paycheck if they are sick and can't work?  

Whether or not you offer employee benefits, you must decide how you will handle all benefits and salaries in the event an employee takes a personal or medical leave, put this in writing and communicate it to employees.  For more info, write and ask about Qualified Sick Pay plans:  info@cbhealthinsurance.com