We represent all major carriers—including Anthem, Aetna, Blue Shield, Health Net, Kaiser Permanente, and UnitedHealthcare— and can design a comprehensive benefits package that perfectly fits your team’s unique needs and your company’s budget. We will evaluate everything from cost-effective HMOs to broader PPO networks to find the ideal fit. My goal is to make the administrative side of benefits completely hands-off for you, allowing you to focus on running and growing your business.
What is needed for a Small Business Health Plan:
We require at least 1 W-2 non spouse employee (can be dependent on payroll). We can also insure owners only who are officers of a corporation. No company is too complex for us to insure!
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Let’s partner together to build a robust benefits package that helps you attract top talent and gives you total peace of mind.
What Is Group Health Insurance?
Group health insurance is a single policy that covers an entire group of people. The most common group that purchases a group plan is a business with employees. That’s not the only organization that can benefit from a group plan. Other organizations can also purchase insurance for their members. This applies to California small businesses, as well.
Individual health insurance policies used to base their rates on the individual health history of the applicant. The new healthcare law changed that. The new law protects people with preexisting conditions from being denied insurance. In a way, individual health insurance plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act make you a small part of an enormous group plan.
Group health insurance rates are based on general information for the members of the group. The type of organization that purchases that policy can also affect the rates. That’s because group plans are based on a pool of insured persons that can change. As people leave the group, and others take their place, the makeup of the pool changes.
Harmony can help you to find the right Los Angeles business insurance for small business.
Is Small Business Health Insurance Mandatory?
Yes and no. The number of people working for a business decides whether an employer must offer health insurance to their employees. California small businesses are largely exempt. If your business has fewer than 50 full-time employees, it’s considered a small business. There are some exceptions to this rule, however. If your business employs a large number of part-time employees, the government may use a standard called full-time-equivalent employment to determine your status. Your group health insurance broker can fill you in on the details.
Who Is Eligible?
With a few exceptions, when a small business offers group health insurance to any of its full-time employees, it must offer insurance to all full-time staff. Employers can also extend coverage to part-time workers. However, if they offer it to even one part-time employee, they’ll have to offer it to all part-timers.
If an employee is eligible for the group health insurance plan, they can’t be refused due to preexisting medical conditions. That also applies to members of their families. Some group health insurance policies allow spouses, children and other dependents to sign up for coverage as well as the employee.
What Portion Do Employers Pay of Health Insurance Plans? What Are My Options?
Many employers pay the entire cost of group insurance for their employees. This isn’t required, however. Some businesses make their employees pay part of their premiums. The Affordable Care Act offers many tax credits for businesses to offset the cost of group insurance. If employees pay at least half of the premiums for their employers, they may qualify for up to a 50 percent tax credit. These tax credits are based on complicated rules, so it pays to ask your Los Angeles health insurance broker and your accountant for full details.
Find Out More
Not all businesses need to offer group health insurance to comply with federal and state laws. However, small business health insurance is an important perk that employees value very highly. If you’d like to offer health insurance to improve employee morale and retention rates, contact Harmony Health Insurance Services for more information on this and small business insurance Los Angeles.