If you run a small business, you may be thinking about buying group insurance.
Purchasing group insurance for your small business has different rules than buying individual insurance for yourself or your family.
Want to discover the ins and outs of group insurance? Keep reading.
What Is Group Insurance?
Group insurance plans for small businesses refers to a single policy issued to a group. Group insurance plans are usually for businesses with employees, but other types of groups can receive coverage too.
When small businesses get group insurance, it covers all eligible employees, and in some cases, their dependents. Individual medical insurance, on the other hand, is issued to one person or family.
The rules are different for small group health insurance plans because the insurer’s risk is calculated differently.
With individual insurance, the insurer has based its premium fees on the extensive medical history of the individual or family. With small businesses, the insurer calculates a premium cost based on risk factors considered of the whole group. For example, insurers will look at the age and gender of members in the group.
Insurers are legally required to offer coverage to small groups.
Is Your Small Business Eligible for Group Insurance?
Legally, small employers are guaranteed group insurance if they want to buy it. This is regardless of the employees’ health.
A small employer is a business with between two to 50 full-time staff members. This number includes owners of the brand. That means sole proprietorships with one employee are included in this category, as do businesses with two or more partners and no employees.
Who Is Eligible for Coverage?
Typically, if an employer offers small group insurance to any full-time staff members, the employer must provide coverage to every full-time employee.
The small business owner can choose to offer insurance to part-time staff members working less than 30 hours a week. Likewise, if the employer protects any part-time staff members, every part-time staff member must be offered.
These rules apply regardless of the medical status of the staff members. Any eligible team member cannot be denied insurance based on any pre-existing medical conditions. As well as this, any dependents of qualified staff members are usually eligible for protection under a small group insurance plan.
Dependents include married partners and children. Sometimes unmarried partners are included too. Dependents can’t submit for insurance unless the staff member has enrolled.
Under the Affordable Care Act, group insurance schemes must prolong protection to adult dependents up to the age of 26.
Do You Want to Invest in a Small Group Insurance Plan?
Are you a business owner looking for a small group insurance plan? At Futurewise, we’re here to help.
Whether you’re looking for group insurance for just two business owners or a team of 30, we can help you with the right coverage.
Learn more here and get a small group insurance plan quote for your company.