Affordable Group Health Insurance: How to Save on Employee Benefits
In this article, we’ll explore strategies to find affordable group health insurance for your employees. No matter your group size or needs we will have a solution that will fit your populace on Life, Vision, Dental, and Health Insurance. Finally giving you a path to affordable employee benefit options for your employees. This article will provide a brief overview of various ways you can reduce your premium and maximize your employee benefit plan options. You will have to try a multitude of steps but the most important step is utilizing an Online Employee Benefits Quoting Portal such as the Sanus Benefits Portal. This is the fastest guranteed way to find Affordable Employee Benefits regardless of group size. Besides creating an online account with Sanus Benefits, these are the additional ways you can start saving on your Group Health Insurance. First we will go over the actions all group sizes can take, then small groups(Under 50 Lives), and finally large groups (over 50 Lives).
Group Health Insurance Savings for All Employers
Get Quotes from Multiple Health Insurance Carriers
With each passing year there are more Health Insurance Carriers and options flooding into the market. You are doing yourself a disservice if you are only quoting two options or exclusively quoting the legacy carriers each year. Each carrier looks at claims differently and even quote differently, meaning their rates can be drastically skewed. There are three ways to quote Health Insurance: Past 2 Years of Claims Information, GRX (Census Quoting), and Health Questionnaires. I recommend using at least two of these three different quoting methodoligies. One could show a 20% savings over the other, it all depends on the case/carrier, and the health insurance consultant you have. Quoting multiple options will ensure you find Affordable Rates for all of your various Employee Benefits.Join Enlarged Pools of Employers for Better Rates
There are options that bring together numerous groups into an enlarged pool that allows carriers/options to become more competitive (Law of Large Numbers). One example of this is the Association of General Contractors (AGC) Health Plan. We are one of the exclusive brokers that offers this plan. The AGC Health Plan automatically provides a 10% discount on premium as of now, and the discount may increase as the pool continues to grow. Additionally, there are options called PEOs. These options are also able to group together employers in an enlarged pool. Some of these options require you to move forward with their other services prior to being eligible for their group health plan (Payroll/HR/etc.). However, there are PEOs that allow you to quote their plan via an ASO model. Meaning you are able to choose from the various services you want and not the ones you do not need. For example: A group on an ASO model may be able to just utilize the health plan vs non ASO model where they would need to pay for all PEO services even if they do not use them. I am not here to preach against PEOs. We currently have clients in both traditional PEOs and ASO models currently it is just difficult sometimes for clients to gauge the right PEO model for their needs. Generally the savings attained through these enlarged pools is significant, sometimes ranging from 10% to 30% off the premium.Direct Primary Care
These Health Insurance options have become more prevalent in recent years with the constant rise in premium. While these groups do not offer coverage for places outside the designated facility the coverage is through, they are far more affordable generally than regular medical options. One example of a Direct Primary Care (DPC) plan is the Next Level Urgent Care Plan we offer currently. With the growth in this sector, I would not be suprised to see more of these plans offered by providers in the future.Continuing Focused Employee Benefits Education
The most important step you can take in making your Employee Benefits more Affordable is by making sure your staff have the tools and knowledge easily accessible to thrive. It is fantastic to have lower copays/deductibles to lower the barrier to receive coverage, but another important aspect is employees being educated on the issues they may be more at risk for given their day to day life. Having a centeralized location that can help employees naviagte all of their coverages and have access to an experienced knowledable benefits consultant at anytime is paramount to improved success. There should be an area of your current portal to review special discounts or unique plan features (Reduced Cost Mail Order Pharmacy, Telehealth Services, etc.). With an everchanging landscape you need a solution that adapts to the market and provides ongoing support and education to employees.Achievable Wellness Programs
If a wellness program is well curated the Affordability of Employee Benefits seems to fix itself. This is a methodology that has been tried and tested before without too much success. The most important aspect of the initial statement is well curated this is where groups, brokers, and carriers have dropped the ball tremendously in the past. The goals are everchanging year to year without any real tracking methodology that enhances participation. However, with the right approach and commitment, these programs can be successful in improving employee health and reducing costs. Which is why we were determined to deploy a new wellness strategy for no cost to all our groups. This wellness program integrates with Apple Health and Google Fit to track steps, cycling, fleights of stairs, swimming, and more. Giving them reasonable goals with each workout and some goals continual throughout the year. For example, we have a goal of swimming the equivalent of the english channel in a month. Once users complete these unique tasks they earn a badge and move up their rank on the leaderboard. As a courtesey, we provide all groups with a $50 gift card to the winner of the year in Wellness Points with our App. However, you can update and set new prizes for different goals. We find that users initially come for the prizes but stay for the bragging rights. This way we curated the Sanus Benefits wellness plan was to enhance the overrall commrodorie of the group and allow for healty overrall competition without leaving anyone out. Perfecting this model is the ultimate key to making every group finally have affordable employee benefits.
Small Group Health Insurance: How to Save
Finding Affordable and Competitive Employee Benefits as a small employer is diffcult for sure. There are numerous reasons for this, but the main problem is that groups are unaware of the various plan options, providers, employee benefit platforms, and consultants available to them. Unfortunately you are just a number to most consultancy firms and they are lackidasical in their quoting, administration, and the future of your employee benefits. This issue often leads groups to signing and settling with options that are easy to quote 'Fully Insured' which is Community Rated. If you are even a slightly healthy group this is not where you want to be. Community Rated plans are options that have no underwriting whatsoever. They give all groups a generic rate based off age/zipcode/gender of each employee. As you could assume, these rates generally are on the higher end, forcing groups to cut their benefits to HMO options just to afford the premium. Then no one participates in your plan because they are unable to afford it leading to Adverse Selection. Meaning only people that heavily utilize the plans are the ones on it. Leading to more years down the road of continually higher rates. It is a perpetual problem which is allowed to fester because consultants who are paid more the more you pay are often incentivized to keep groups in these plans rather than finding them better options. Unfortunately this is an all too common occurence for larger brokerage firms and groups going direct to carrier. I would say the biggest tip for small groups in finding affordable employee benefits is having a consultancy firm that is adaptive to the small group market, makes you a priority, and gives you the tools you need to be successful with your coverage. Other than that there is one other note I want to say about what type of coverage you should be at least looking at as a small group which is.
Level Self Funded Options
These options allow for underwriting on small groups. Some carriers will even allow underwriting for groups of two. Depending on your size, you may be required to fill out health questionnaires or provide claims information to quote some of these options. When groups see "level self funded", they focus on the self funded verbage and automatically assume they would be held accountable for the claims on the policy. This is not the case at all. On the contrary, your group will be charged the same premium month to month and will not be responsible for anything over that amount. In fact, most level self funded options allow you to receive a refund on unsued premium at the end of the policy year. Just be aware that underwriters are generally good about estimating claims, so don't expect to receive thousands back. However, refunds of $10,000 or more are sometimes delved out. All carriers offer a version of this, for example: United Healthcare (All Savers), Sana, All State, Humana, Blue Cross (Blue Balance), Cigna, and Aetna. To see a more detailed explanation of level self funded plans view the video below.
Understanding Level Self-Funded Options
Large Group Health Insurance Savings: What Employers Need to Know
These employers generally have an easier time finding more affordable employee benefit rates. However, some still fall victim to paying more than they should. This happens in numerous ways, maybe they continue to renew with their current option at a 5-7% increase each year because they are 'afraid to disrupt their workforce', they use a broker that only quotes two carriers year to year, and/or they do not review exclusive options such as aforementioned Association of General Contractors Health Plan. There are many other reasons groups this size could be overpaying. The best way to find out if your group is overpaying is by reaching out to a reputable Employee Benefits Broker. Unfortunately, unlike small groups, groups with over 50 employees are required by law to offer Minimum Essential Coverage. While also making it meet the affordability requirements, or your group will face penalties. Once you reach this size it is imperative to have an online system in place that tracks your coverage month to month across your all your employee benefits plan options. Not only to make the information accessible, but also to ensure compliance and maximize Employee Benefit Savings. Which is why the one and only tip we have different from Small Groups is
Utilizing an Online Employee Benefits Platform
Am I biased about this? Undoubtedly. However, I truly believe that leveraging technology can significantly enhance the way businesses manage their employee benefits. An online employee benefits platform can provide real-time data, streamline communication, and simplify the enrollment process, making it easier for both employers and employees to navigate their options. This is reigns true at open enrollment and throughout the entire coverage year. The amount of features Sanus Benefits makes accessible with the free to use platform is unparalleled. There is way too much to employee benefits to keep track of it with a payroll platform, or an HR platform. It is not only nice to have a platform strictly built around your groups Employee Benefits, but it is necessary especially for large groups.
This article is merely meant to give you a high level overview on actions you can take to cut your Employee Benefits | Group Health Insurance costs and finally offer Affordable Employee Benefit options. There are many aspects of the quoting process I did not touch on that are pertinent for your savings. The most sure fire method in ensuring you receive the best rates for you and your employees, is by receiveing a quote through Sanus Benefits. Unlike some competitors, we do not outsource any aspect of our benefits quoting/administration, process meaning your data is safe and secure. Try out our new 'state of the art' Employee Benefits Quoting Tool. This tool will assist your group in finding a plan that fits your needs while also granting you access to all necessary data points in making that determination. Click the 'Get Quote Now' button below to begin the quoting process and start utilizing the Sanus Benefits Portal at No Charge.
