Health Insurance Options for Small Business Owners
As a small employer, you may feel there are just too many barriers to offering an affordable employee health insurance plan yourself. Too few employees, high costs and poor risk ratings are the top three worries. Fortunately, there are affordable options out there for businesses like yours.
Too Few Employees to Qualify
The ICHRA program makes offering health benefits to a small group of employees, including yourself, much easier than before. Launched in 2019, ICHRA allows a wider definition of an employee, as well as flexibility in participation rates and contribution levels. Click here to learn more about ICHRA.
Insurmountable Costs
The key to assessing the cost of group health insurance is to consider the amount you must pay, not the set premiums. As an employer, you only have to pay 50% of the premium for your employee to be competitive—not the full amount for the individual or any part of family coverage. Offering access to an individual plan with or without family coverage is what is essential, not necessarily paying for all of it.
Another idea to consider is that if you need to purchase health insurance for yourself, implementing a group plan could reduce your personal premiums. If health insurance is going to be an expense for your business anyway, it makes sense to make the most of the line item.
Poor Health Risk Ratings
The first step in offering an employee group health insurance is the underwriting process to assess your group’s risk factor score, which determines the level of premium you will pay regardless of the plan you choose. For employers with healthy employees, this step is easy. However, if your workforce has medical issues, worry sets in. Fortunately, the Wharton & Power Insurance Team has access to many options for small business health insurance. Knowing that you have choices available hopefully alleviates the angst associated with the underwriting process.
There is no need to feel daunted by the prospect of offering health benefits There are viable options to cover not only yourself and your family, but your employees too. Reach out to Scott Wharton via email or phone at 317.663.4138 for more information.
