The Wharton & Power Insurance Team has been partnered with BAGI for over 10 years to help provide members with access to employee health insurance options. With three programs available to small businesses, we work with BAGI members to choose the plan that best suits their situation. Jason Gettum of Gettum Associate Inc offered a reflection on his decision to offer health benefits to his employees and the Wharton process.
“We wanted to provide a health insurance plan to our 13+ employees for two reasons: 1) we feel a moral obligation to take care of our employees in any way we can and 2) we know that offering health benefits helps attract and retain good employees. Both reasons support our bottom line by having a positive work environment and happy employees.
We launched our employee health insurance plan in 2020 with help from Wharton & Power Insurance, who we knew through BAGI. Our experience with group health plans was that they did not provide the flexibility or affordability our small business needed. The Wharton Team told us about the ICHRA option, which ended up working well for us.
The Wharton Team offered up cost comparisons for group health plans and showed us how the budget we had already set to supplement a health insurance plan could be used for our employees. With the money we provide, our employees are able to apply it all to a healthcare plan, use it all for supplemental insurances, or a mixture of both. ICHRA gave us and our employees great flexibility while allowing us to remain a financially viable company.”
The ICHRA program was promulgated by the US Departments of Health & Human Services and the Treasury in 2019. It allows businesses to contribute pre-tax dollars toward employee health coverage. This new program offers employees a lot of flexibility on how they use the dollars, places fewer restrictions on which businesses qualify and which employees can participate, and allows employers control of their spending. Click here to read more about the ICHRA program.
The ICHRA program is not right for every business, that is why we spend the time to review the three options we provide. Our clients find the path to offering employee health benefits that suit their needs.
Jason offered these final words in his reflection:
“I found the Wharton Team extremely easy to deal with. They answered all of our questions and provided plenty of information in a clear format. They made it easy for us to understand our options and to choose a plan that worked well for our company.”
If you are considering starting an employee health insurance plan, we would appreciate the opportunity to help you through the process. Send us an email or give us a call at 317-663-4138.
