How Your Group Health Premiums Are Calculated

How Your Group Health Premiums Are Calculated text overlaying image of a ben and calculator on a white table In 2023, group health plans for one person cost an average of $7,739 and plans for a family cost an average of $22,463. Those numbers are expected to have up to a 7% increase in 2024. However, there are ways to lower how much you pay for health insurance. It all depends on how your premiums are calculated. If you know what factors affect your bottom line, you can take steps to lower your total premium.

 

For group health insurance, premiums are calculated for each worker who signs up for the plan, plus the costs of adding a spouse or children. The total price for the group plan is calculated by adding all of the individual premiums up. Most companies have their employees pay a portion of their plan cost. Then the company takes those payments and then pays the rest of the cost to the insurance company every month.

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How Group Health Insurance Works

Since the risk is spread out among more people. The cost of group health insurance is generally much lower than the cost of individual plans. Once the company decides on a plan, employees can choose whether or not to sign up for coverage. However, group health plans usually need at least 70% of a company’s employees to partake, in order to be effective. Companies usually offer different levels of plans so that enrollees can choose between basic coverage or more advanced coverage with add-ons. Depending on the plan, the premiums are then split between the company and its employees. Businesses can offer further protection by allowing their employees to add their spouse or children to the plan. Although doing this typically means the plan becomes more expensive.

The Factors

Since every business is different, your premium could be higher or lower based on a number of factors that are used to figure out how much your plan will cost. It also depends heavily on the group being insured.

 

  • Fully insured with less than 50 employees – Premiums are based on how many people in your area, not just from your business, are signed up for the same plan with the same insurance company. The cost of the insurance is also based on how old the enrollees are. So, everyone the same age with the same insurance plan from the same company will pay the same price. The rates go up every year based on their age. Some of the annual renewal increase at your company will come from the fact that your workers are getting older.
  • Fully insured with more than 50 employees – Premiums are calculated based on the age, gender, location (zip code), and medical conditions (expected healthcare costs) of your workers and their dependents who are covered by the plan. 
  • More than 100 employees – Groups with more than 100 workers are counted the same way as businesses with more than 50 workers. Rates are based on the age, gender, location (zip code). And medical conditions (expected healthcare costs) of your insured workers and their dependents.

Other factors are included in calculating your premiums such as:

Size of The Group

How much you pay can depend on how many people are on your group plan. This number includes both your employees who choose to join your plan and their family members who join through an employee. By spreading the health risks of a few people over a larger group, a bigger group can help you pay less for your insurance.

Health of The Group

Your rate is affected by how healthy the group as a whole is. Even though the Affordable Care Act says that insurers can’t change premiums or refuse coverage based on a person’s pre-existing conditions or general health. The American Academy of Actuaries says that the health of the group as a whole can play a role in figuring out premiums. If a risk group has a lot of people with higher expected claims, the average premiums will be higher. This can be good for your business, as the Academy also says that premiums will be lower if a risk group avoids people who are likely to make more claims. Or if it can cover the costs of people who are likely to make more claims by signing up a lot of people with lower costs.

Average Age

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) says that insurers can’t change rates based on things like gender, but they can still take age into account. Rating by age is still legal as long as the ratio of the most expensive adult age band to the least expensive adult age band doesn’t go above 3:1. This means that in a group plan, the average age of your group can affect how much you pay.

Claims History

Going to the doctor often can add up. Insurance companies make changes to your prices over time based on how many claims have been made and how much they cost. When it’s time to renew your insurance, an insurer will look at how often your group has filed claims and make changes based on that. If a few of your employees had health problems that required them to go to the doctor often or spend a lot of money. That may be represented in your updated premium cost.

Tobacco Use

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) says that group health plans can charge people who smoke up to 50% more for their health insurance rates than people who don’t smoke. This is called a “tobacco surcharge.”

Industry

Different jobs have different amounts of danger. Your insurance company may change your rates based on what your workers do for a living. For example, office workers don’t face the same health risks as people who work in factories, buildings, or offshore. So their insurance premiums may be lower than those of people in other jobs.

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Coverage Amount

Group health plans are not all the same. How much you and your workers pay will depend a lot on how much coverage you get. When you have better coverage and lower out-of-pocket costs, your premiums may go up. Due to the extra covering, adding on extras like dental and vision plans can also raise your premiums.

Can My Employees Be Denied?

A person with a medical problem can’t be kicked out of a group health plan. The health insurance must either cover everyone in the group or not cover anyone. They can’t choose one or more people. A fully-funded health insurance plan cannot be turned down by a company with less than 50 workers. Carrier participation rates are based on a ratio of the number of employees who are insured to the total number of employees who are qualified. This number is different for each insurance company, so you should talk to your health insurance agent about it.

Saving on Group Health Premiums

For a small business owner, health insurance rates can be expensive, but you don’t have to accept what your company is being charged. You might be able to use certain strategies to lower your costs and make your workers healthier.

Start a Wellness Program

Since the number of claims has a direct effect on your premiums. It can pay to make sure that all of your workers are in good health. Through health education and wellness practices, a customized workplace wellness program can help people choose to live healthier lives. This can lead to a healthier, more active workforce. And lower overall rates by reducing the number of doctor visits caused by diseases that could have been prevented. It can also help attract and keep good employees because they know their employer cares about their health and safety. 

Telemedicine Access 

Giving your workers access to a mobile doctor 24/7 is another way to cut down on the number of trips to the doctor. With telemedicine services, your employees can talk to a real doctor by phone, video chat, or online chat. This lets them get the answers they need without making an in-person visit with the doctor. This means they don’t have to pay a copay and your plan doesn’t have to pay for an extra claim.

Economy Scale

Depending on where you get your insurance, you might be able to use the “economy of scale” to your advantage. Larger businesses have more workers and more buying power. But smaller businesses don’t have as many employees to save money through economy of scale.

How To Enroll

There are countless group health plan providers and plans to choose from so choosing can be difficult. But we’re here to help! You can call EZ for a personal agent to help you sort through your plan options, get free quotes, or to simply find out more about group health insurance plans. Our experts can help you save hundreds of dollars a year by finding the best plan for your business. You can reach one of our highly trained agents at 877-670-3531, or enter your zip code in the box below for free instant quotes.

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Small Business Owners: Should You Offer More than One Type of Health Insurance Plan?

If you own a business that employs fewer than 50 people, then you are not required to offer your workforce group health insurance – but that doesn’t mean that you can’t, or that you shouldn’t. Many small business owners find that having healthier and happier employees is worth the cost and the administrative headaches of providing a healthcare plan, some go even further: they offer multiple plan options for their workers to choose from. Going this route may not be right for every small business, but if you’re looking to keep a diverse workforce satisfied, then it might be right for you.

health insurance in a blue border with a green check next to the word yes in green too
Employees prefer health insurance over a raise in pay, and it is a huge deciding factor for job seekers. 

Offering Health Insurance: The Stats

If you’re not currently offering a healthcare plan to your employees, you may want to take a look at a few stats:

  • 40%: The percentage of workers that say that healthcare is their number one priority when it comes to benefits.
  • 88%: The percentage of job seekers who say that they would give health benefits “some consideration” or “heavy consideration” when choosing a job. 46% said it was a deciding factor.
  • 56%: The percentage of people with employer-sponsored health benefits who say that whether or not they like their health coverage is a key factor in deciding to stay at their current job.
  • 50-60% of a worker’s annual salary: The amount it can cost to find a direct replacement for them if they leave their position.
  • $4,000: The average amount it takes to hire an employee.

The numbers above should give you an idea of how important offering group insurance to your employees can be to recruiting, retention, and to your bottom line. Adding flexibility to your plan options can only increase those benefits. 

green pie chart with the numbers 76%, 20%, and 4% divided into it
Percentage of employees who offer one or more plans to their employees. 76% offer 1 plan type.

If you are currently offering one type of insurance plan to your employees, then you’re not alone. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation 2019 Health Benefits Survey: 

  • 76% of small businesses offer one plan type
  • 20% offer two plan types
  • 4% offer three or more plan types

If you’re choosing between plan types, you might want to take a look at a breakdown of what other small employers are choosing:

  • Point of Service (POS) plans: almost half of small employers – 47% –  chose this option, according to a recent survey. POS plans are a hybrid of PPOs and HMOs: they have the lower premiums and primary care physician requirement of HMOs, but are slightly more flexible. 
  • HMOs: This type of plan, which requires that employees choose a primary care physician, get referrals to see specialists, and stay within a narrow network, accounted for 26% of small business plans
  • PPOs: 15% of plans were this more flexible type, which have larger networks and fewer requirements than an HMO, but also have higher premiums. 

Offering Plan Options: The Factors

Now that you know all the relevant facts and figures, and we’ve established that offering at least one plan is a good idea, let’s take a look at the factors that should go into determining whether you decide to offer more than one plan type.

  • The ages and health needs of your employees: If you’ve got a workforce completely populated by Millennials or X-ennials who are single, childless, and healthy, then offering a one-size-fits-all high deductible health plan might be a great choice for you. You and your young, healthy employees could both save money on premiums, and they could contribute money tax-free to an HSA. But if you have some older employees, or employees who need to visit their doctor often, then they would probably prefer a plan with a higher premium and lower deductible. Adding a PPO into the mix would probably work for them, especially because they might not want to have to see their primary care physician every time they need to visit a specialist. red location symbol placed over a map
  • Location: If your employees all live and work in one small area, then they might not need to pay extra for a PPO with a wide network. However, if you have a lot of commuters who are spread out over a large area, they may prefer the flexibility of a plan with a larger network.
  • Budget: You need to think about what both you and your employees can afford when it comes to choosing a plan. If you really can’t find it in your budget to contribute to higher premiums plans, then stick with offering a cheaper option – it’s better to offer one plan than no plan! On the other hand, if most of your employees are older and/or have families and are willing to pay for a more full-coverage plan, but you have a few younger, more budget-conscious employees, consider offering them a second, cheaper option.

There’s always a lot to consider when choosing whether – and how – to offer health insurance to your small business’s employees. If you need more input, turn to your employees themselves – you can always offer an anonymous employee healthcare survey so that they can tell you exactly what they want. And if you need still more help, turn to EZ! We can answer all of your questions about offering multiple plans (or anything else!), find you the best plan options, and get you super fast, accurate quotes, and we’ll do it all for free. To get started with us today, simply enter your zip code in the bar above, or to speak with an agent directly, call 888-350-1890. 

What Will Employer Healthcare Costs Look Like in 2021?

If there’s one thing that we can all agree on, it’s that 2020 has been an unusual year, especially when it comes to healthcare. We’ve seen a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, and we still don’t know what all the effects of it will be. Take, for example, costs for employer-based healthcare. If you’re an employer, you’re right to be wondering where your health costs are headed in 2021 – will they skyrocket? Level off? Maybe even go down? Unfortunately, the answers to these questions are not as clear-cut this year as they have been in previous years, but we can take a look at what some experts are projecting, as well as what you can do to help keep costs down.

This Year’s Cost of Care

piles of hundred dollar bills strapped together by a band laying on top of each other
Healthcare costs have surprisingly been down this year; spending anywhere from $75 billion to $575 billion less than expected.

To get a better idea of why predicting healthcare costs for 2021 has been so difficult, we need to take a look at what healthcare costs have been like this year. As you might expect, dealing with the coronavirus is expensive: California’s state ACA Marketplace, Covered California, estimated that the costs to test, treat, and care for coronavirus patients this year will be between $34 billion and $251 billion; America’s Health Insurance Plans predicts the cost will total $56 billion to $556 billion over a two-year period.

Even with those astronomical numbers, we can’t simply jump to the conclusion that insurance costs are going to skyrocket next year. It looks like the total costs of healthcare in the U.S. are actually down this year; in fact, one estimate is projecting that we will have spent anywhere from $75 billion to $575 billion less than expected on healthcare by year’s end. One actuarial firm is even saying that some self-insured employers could see a 4% drop in healthcare costs in 2021. How can that be? While the coronavirus has been an unexpected expense, in some cases, it has been balanced out – or even cancelled out – by the fact that many people are postponing or cancelling regular clinical care and elective treatments due to coronavirus. 

But before we get too excited about a possible drop in healthcare costs, we need to look at what the experts are predicting. And, like everything else this year, it’s unusual: there are multiple possible scenarios for how much employer healthcare costs will rise.

Multiple Scenarios

3 arrows pointing in different directions
So far, there are 3 possible scenarios as to how much healthcare costs will be next year.

Medical costs are one of the most vital bits of information for insurance companies as they figure out plan costs for the coming year. With this year being so much in flux, it is unclear what insurers are going to do; in fact, business advisory giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has taken the unusual step of offering multiple scenarios for what could happen to employer healthcare costs in 2021. “This is an unprecedented report for us,” said Ben Isgur, leader of PwC’s Health Research Institute. “In the 13 years we have been doing this, we made a projection of the coming year and never felt the need to do scenarios.” Their 3 scenarios for 2021 are as follows:

  • Medical spending continues to stay low, with people opting out of non-coronavirus related care. In this scenario, costs would only rise by about 4%, which would be one-third lower than the average growth over the last five years.  
  • Medical spending could be “medium,” and costs would rise at the same rate as they did from 2014 – 2020: around 6%.
  • Spending could be very high and result in a 10% increase in costs.

These numbers might not be across the board for all businesses in all areas: it might depend on where they are located and how much the coronavirus has affected their area. For example, businesses in an area that has been relatively unaffected by coronavirus will most likely see the usual increase of about 6%, while those with a surge in the virus, but a drop in people seeking care for other things, could see a rise closer to 4%. But if all of this other medical care gets pushed into next year? Then we could see a rise in healthcare costs of around 10%, which would mean the highest rate of medical-cost inflation since 2007. 

For now, it does look as if some insurers are raising rates, and these increases seem to vary by plan type. For example, recent filings with the District of Columbia’s Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking related to small groups for 2021 show that Aetna filed for an average increase of 7.4% for health maintenance organization (HMO) plans and 38% for preferred provider organization (PPO) plans, while UnitedHealth proposed an average increase of 17.4% for its two HMOs and 11.4% for its PPO plans. They may be anticipating a surge in claims as 2021 gets underway. 

A Surge Next Year?

graph of money bars going up with a red line moving upwards across the top of each bar
Insurance costs could skyrocket next year due to people not getting treatment.

What many employers are concerned about now is that final, high-spending scenario. With so many people putting off necessary treatments, insurance claims could skyrocket in 2021 as people get sicker. Skipping out on preventive care could also present a large problem, as people may miss out on being diagnosed with underlying issues. “[Employers are] worried that some of these elective procedures will simply be bunched up next year and some people will be sicker next year … because certain things weren’t detected earlier,” said James Klein, American Benefits Council president.

Other things that could drive up costs? Increased coronavirus testing as employees return to work, prescription drug cost increases as pharmaceutical companies work on coronavirus treatments, and higher operating costs for hospitals and physicians as they try to keep up with the need for protective gear. Finally, let’s not forget that, as people struggle with isolation and anxiety, mental health costs will probably continue to rise – and now is certainly not the time to skimp on mental health care benefits for your employees. 

What You Can Do

If costs do end up rising significantly, it might seem like the best thing to do would be to choose plans with higher deductibles or contribute less to employees’ premiums, which would pass some of the costs onto them. This may help to reduce your spending in the short-term, but it’s probably not the best long-term strategy. Studies show that putting more of the cost of healthcare onto your employees actually discourages them from seeking preventive care: for example, families with a higher deductible are less likely to take their children to see the doctor, even if the visit is free. In the long run, this could mean that your employees and their families will be less healthy, which could mean higher healthcare costs.

So what should you be doing to help manage healthcare costs and keep your employees healthy? Here are a few strategies:person holding a cell phone with a caucasian male doctor on the screen

  • Probably the best thing that you can do right now – and continue to do in the future – is to offer telemedicine as an option to your employees. Virtual healthcare exploded in popularity during the pandemic, and many patients love its convenience, while many employers love how cost-effective it is. Speak with your insurance company and make sure that they will continue to cover it – and encourage your employees to take full advantage of it.
  • Healthcare technology doesn’t have to end with telemedicine. You can offer “virtual chronic care solutions,” which can reduce the need for regular doctor visits. This could include things like Bluetooth-enabled glucose monitors that link with smartphone apps. 
  • Instead of raising costs for your employees, try narrowing the network included in your plan. If your employees are already happy with their covered doctors, it may not be necessary to include a wider range of providers.
  • Speak to your insurance company, or one of our knowledgeable agents, and have them help you examine your employees’ healthcare costs. For example, are their providers jumping right to expensive tests and surgeries, or are they more likely to start with effective preventive measures?

The only thing we know right now about 2021 healthcare costs for employers is that we don’t know a whole lot. Right now all you can do is move forward on the assumption that costs will go up, as they do every year, and try to find ways to keep costs down. The best way to do that? Contact EZ, and speak with one of our agents. They can give you cost-saving tips, and can also  find you a great plan at a great price – and they’ll do it all for free. To get started, enter your zip code in the bar above, or to speak with an agent directly, call 888-350-1890.

How Should You Present Your Healthcare Plan to Employees? Try a Virtual Benefits Fair!

It’s that time of year again! For many employers who offer healthcare benefits, the fall means open enrollment for your employees. It’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to present your group health insurance plan to your employees, and how you can help them to understand what is being offered to them. But we all know that this has been an unusual year, and with many businesses operating remotely, it will be a challenge to present the usual binder full of print-outs to your employees. You might be worried about how to get everyone engaged in your plan, but think about it this way: your employees might be more ready and willing to pay attention this year, because healthcare suddenly seems more important to them than ever. So why not take advantage of both their interest and your new reliance on online meetings and host a virtual benefits fair?

caucasian woman in front of a laptop with people on the screen
Doing a virtual benefits fair will help your employees remain informed and engaged.

The Challenges

It sounds so easy on paper: you research a group health insurance plan (or plans), offer them to your employees, they choose and sign up, and then they can get the healthcare that they need. But it might not be so easy in reality. Employees need to understand their benefits, and how they work in order to make the most of them – or to even feel compelled to sign up for your plan

Unfortunately, surveys show that only 40% of employers actually help their employees understand their benefits. We get it: you’re an expert at your job, but you’re not an expert on health insurance, so you may feel tempted to go the traditional route of simply handing out printed materials and brochures and hoping for the best. But this leads to overwhelmed and uninterested employees, who often end up skimming the materials and getting nothing out of it. In fact, studies show that employees spend an average of only 30 minutes thinking about their benefits choices when they’re simply handed information. 

So, in the traditional scenario, you’ve wasted time and resources on giving information to your employees, and you still haven’t really gotten through to them. Not only that, but with much of business being conducted from afar these days, you might find it difficult to even get these materials to them, or to have in-person info sessions or meetings with insurance reps. What can you do? Spend the money to mail everything? Have a designated pick-up time at the office? We’ve got a better idea: stop the endless printing and collating, eliminate the need to coordinate in-person meetings, and guide your employees through a review of their plan in a more relaxed atmosphere. 

Why Host a Virtual Benefits Fair?

Now is definitely the time to consider hosting a virtual benefits fair, and the advantages of presenting your plan this way might tempt you to do it this way every year. Virtual benefits fairs are a win-win for everyone involved: they’re flexible, efficient, and effective – and they can save you time and money! Some of the top reasons to host one include:

  • Data shows that they’re effective and engaging. Remember that 30 minutes that employees spent on reviewing your plan information? Studies show that when employers hosted a virtual benefits fair, employees spent at least 45-60 minutes reviewing their benefit options.

    silhouettes of many people with different colored speech bubbles above some
    Hosting a virtual benefits fair will lead to immediate feedback from your employees in order to know what to look for in a plan.
  • You can reach all employees, no matter their location.
  • Families can get involved in the decision. If employees can access the fair from home, then their partners or dependents can listen in and find out more information about the benefits that affect them.
  • You get immediate feedback. If you decide to host a fair with multiple “rooms” to visit, then you can see which were visited most frequently, or seemed to generate the most interest.
  • Employees can get direct access to representatives. You can host a fair that gives employees the opportunity to speak directly to insurance representatives, and get their questions answered by an expert!
  • Employees take full ownership of their benefits package. When everything is online, employees can choose which presentations to watch and they can download the information they find most relevant – and keep it for further reference.
  • Hosting one is a way of showing that you care about your employees and their health. Offering healthcare is always a way to attract and keep valued employees – but organizing a virtual benefits fair to make sure they’re well-informed? That’s a whole other level.

How to Do It

So if saving time and money, keeping your employees informed and happy, and doing it all from the comfort of your home sounds good to you, then let’s take a look at how you can go about setting up a virtual benefits fair. 

  • Look into a virtual events platform. To make your fair as engaging and effective as possible – and to take a break from the usual Zoom meetings! – use a virtual events platform to do all of the heavy lifting for you. There are many options to choose from.
  • Decide what you want to include. Make a list of the elements you’d like to see in your fair. This could include: one-on-one chats, downloadable materials, live webinars, and pre-recorded videos. caucasian woman sitting in front of a laptop with a notebook in front of it and shes looking at her watch
  • Schedule a date and time. This should be easier to do than scheduling an in-person event, as you can be more flexible. You just need to think about the best time to do it – during open enrollment? Before? How much time will you need to plan it? Are there any company deadlines you need to consider?
  • Let your employees know! Give yourself plenty of time to internally market the fair to your employees. Email them, mention it frequently in group communications, and post about it on your social media platforms. 
  • Evaluate how it went. After it’s all over, don’t forget to take a look at the data: what questions were frequently asked? What webinars or presentations were most popular? All of this information can help you to tailor future benefits communication to your employees – it’ll also let you know what your employees are most interested in when it comes to their healthcare plan!

Your employees will almost certainly have questions about the healthcare benefits included in their group health insurance plan, but engaging them on the subject can be challenging. So take advantage of the technology available nowadays, and give employees an engaging, flexible, and tailored way to learn about their options. And if you have questions about offering group health insurance to your employees, or if you’re looking for a great plan, talk to EZ. We’ll set you up with an agent who can provide you with all the information that you need, get you fast, accurate quotes, and sign you up for a great plan – and we’ll do it all for free! Get started with us today by simply entering your zip code in the bar above, or you can speak to an agent by calling 888-998-2027.

ATTN Small Business Owners: 6 Reasons You Should Give Your Employees Insurance

Not convinced small business coverage is worth it?  Find out why we think it is.

1. It’s Cake.

As a business owner, your greatest currency is time. So the last thing you want is to waste that on looking for the right group plan.

When you hire an agent, you hire a full-time tour guide committed to navigating you through the selection process. With demographics, health concerns, and company size to consider, there are plenty of factors that must be included in your final decision.  An agent can explain the nitty-gritty details of selecting a plan that fits your company’s needs, instead of you spending an unbelievable amount of time trying to digest the vast sea of information. Consider them

Cartoon of a man in a suit sitting on a chair with papers in his hand, with another hand in the picture giving paperwork to man sitting down.
An agent can explain the nitty-gritty details of selecting a plan that fits your company’s needs, instead of you spending a large amount of time trying to figure it all out

your “sparknotes” of insurance plans.

This connection is 1-to-1, because trust us – we hate spam calls as much as you do.

Connect With a Personal Agent Now

2. Less Money (From You), Less Problems.

One of the biggest misconceptions about purchasing insurance is the hefty price tag that comes along with it.  And that can be true, if you go about the process in the wrong way. So we’re here to dispel that myth. 

Compared to individual health insurance, high costs of one insured person have a smaller effect in a larger pool – in other words, more people are paying to support the few who use the benefits of being covered to their full extent.

With comparison shopping, you avoid that. You are guaranteed to find the right plan at an affordable price.  You can contribute nothing to a plan – and it will still be beneficial for your employees. No risk is necessary.

It is important to keep in mind that you are not only the owner of your company; you are the owner of the plan selection. 

Checking out your options is a great place to start.

3. “I Want YOU To Buy Health Insurance!”

Little figurines of people passing money to each other from a pile down a line towrds a yellow piggy bank.
You end up saving money by offering employees group insurance. Employer contributions are tax-deductible, employer payroll taxes are reduced by 7.65% of employee contributions, and more!

If you still don’t believe in the affordability of group health coverage, consider this – it’s on Uncle Sam.  Two words for you: Tax. Benefits

Here are the tax savings you get by offering group health insurance:

  • Employer contributions are tax-deductible
  • Employer payroll taxes are reduced by 7.65% of employee contributions
  • Employer workers compensation premiums are reduced
  • No payroll taxes and workers compensation premiums on money used towards health benefits. 

And here are the tax savings your employees get by receiving group health insurance:

  • When employees buy health insurance on their own, they have to use post-tax dollars to buy it. They make money, the government taxes that money, and then they take the remaining amount to buy what they need.
  • When employees buy health insurance through a group plan, they pay for the insurance with pre-tax dollars. That can save them up to 30 to 45% on their health insurance premiums.

4. Healthy Employees = Happy Employees

You might not be able to buy the Beatles’ love, but you can buy your employees’.  

Studies show that small business health insurance plans increase employee loyalty and decrease turnover. There’s scientific proof that purchasing insurance for your employees can increase retention and aid in recruitment.  Mic drop. 

In all seriousness, health insurance is a big deal for both employees and job seekers.  For some, it’s even the deciding 

factor between job offers. 

A group of employees standing in a circle with their hands on top of one another. Camera view is looking up at their palms.
Healthy employees means less visits, less appointments, and less sick days. What this means is more productivity in the workplace.

Providing health insurance, despite not being a large corporate powerhouse, shows how much you value your potential and current employees.  Which – if you’re a good boss – is a lot.

5. And Happy Employees = Happy Boss

You can imagine that an employee with a burst appendix or an inflamed wisdom tooth might be a little distracted when calculating the day’s revenue.  But only a little.

Employees who aren’t provided health insurance have an increased likelihood of avoiding doctor appointments or hospital visits. In short, they have an increased likelihood of being unhealthy.

Additionally, healthy employees means less visits, less appointments, and less sick days.  If you focus on “saving money” at the cost of your employees’ health, we’re tellin’ ya, it’s just going to come back and bite you in the bottom. 

Or your bottom line.

6. The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Cobra isn’t just a snake.

The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) is a health insurance program that allows an eligible employee and his or her dependents the continued benefits of health insurance coverage in the case that employee loses his or her job or experiences a reduction of work hours. 

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