There’s a lot of variety in health insurance plans for small business. But choosing a health insurance provider may be problematic.
Being a small business does not mean you can’t provide health insurance. It’s just a matter of finding the best plans for a good price – a competitive price that allows you to offer your employees the valuable benefit of health insurance. Quite often, it’s difficult to know where to start to choose a plan provider. Generally speaking, it’s best to only deal with duly licensed health insurance brokers/agents who have plenty of experience in dealing with small business owners. Those with the experience will know right away what you’d need to offer your employees.
As with individual health insurance, shop around and get a variety of quotes from several agents. Start out with a list of questions you want answers to before you make the decision to buy. You will want to know what the plans they offer provide, what the differences between the plans are, what the rates have been doing over the last five years, what has affected those rates, and how they handle claims.
These are all fair questions, and if the agent can’t or won’t answer them, move on to find one who will. Three quarters of the decision to buy small business health insurance is made based on the information the purchaser receives. If you run across an agent who isn’t willing to answer your questions, you’d have to wonder how they would handle your account or any potential claims. So when in doubt, ask your questions someplace else.
When you have your small business health insurance quotes, start asking around to other small business owners that offer health insurance about their experiences with their policy providers. There is a wealth of information to be had in a quick 10-minute conversation. It’s always good to compare what others are getting.
Information in hand, start cross-referencing what the various policies offer. The last thing you want to happen is to talk to your workers about health insurance and not have a good idea of what can be offered. It’s usually a good idea to ask what your employees need in terms of health insurance and what concerns they may have. While you can’t please everyone, there is usually a way to strike a happy medium.
Just a word of caution about health insurance plans for small businesses. Did you know that state governments regulate this area? Did you know that different states require different levels of coverage? If you didn’t know this, it’s a smart move to check things out before you get too far along. While you’re at it, you might want to ask questions about premium rates, because states also oversee the premiums an insurance company is allowed to charge by establishing what methods are used to figure out premiums. For instance, the premiums may be done by community rating or employee characteristics.
Just be informed before you make any buying decisions and the whole process will certainly be easier than you expected. When in doubt, ask questions – and ask a lot of them. It’s your money, your health insurance and your small business. You want to do right by everyone and without the right information, this won’t happen.
Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse clicks. To learn more, visit http://www.benepath.com.
