Handling health insurance for business, regardless of its scale, is amongst the hardest part of running the business. There are so many of rules and options that the owner has to figure out. It is even harder for small businesses, which mostly don’t have the entire human resources department. The guide below might be able to help you understand more of health insurance quotes, the available types, and how you can find the right coverage for your business.
How Does Health Insurance for Small Businesses Work
If you own a small business in the U.S. and run it with less than 50 employees, then according to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you aren’t legally required to provide health insurance for the employees. However, for certain reasons, it might be necessary to offer it.
In case you are planning to get one and finding more information about health insurance quotes, then read first this list of four main elements of health insurance for small businesses.
· Coverage
In general, the health insurance plan coverage for eligible small business is usually issued by insurance company. It means that despite of the pre-existing medical conditions of you as the business owner, your employees, and all of the dependents, they can’t be denied and have right to enroll in the plan.
· Employee numbers
In order to be qualified to obtain health insurance coverage for small business, you need to employ at least one worker on the payroll. That being said, some states in the U.S. allow business to count the owner as both the business owner and the employee.
· Employee premiums
The business owner has to pay minimum 50% of the monthly employee’s premium of health insurance. That being said, the lowest percentage can differ between insurance company and the state.
· Searching for coverage
Without having to wait for your business’ current healthcare plan to expire, you are able to shop around for new coverage. That being said, after you buy a plan, typically you’ll be secured for at least one year. After the contact has ended, you will have the options to search for another plan at different insurance company, or renew with the current one.
Where to Find the Best Health Insurance for Your Small Business
Searching for the right health insurance quotes for small businesscan be a time and energy-consuming process. However, there are some helpful tips below that can make it simpler for you. Here are five ways to find the proper health insurance quotes for your business.
1. Consult directly with the insurance company
For those of you who have done research and shopped around, you may already own an idea of which plan and insurance company is best suitable for your business. In this case, you may contact and consult with the insurer directly. This might help you to obtain better deal than to contact the company via third party.
2. Get an insurance broker
This method might be costly, but it might save plenty amount of effort and time needed to search by yourself. Insurance broker is someone who provides assistance with the paperwork, to make sure that your business complies with the laws and get the best health insurance quotes with the most recent policies.
3. Affiliate with private health exchanges
Also known as purchasing alliances, these organizations are the minuscule marketplaces that conduct small businesses and help them to buy health insurance as group. This result in less business health insurance quotes for all partnered businesses. By choosing this option, you’d also be able to provide several different choices for your employees.
4. Utilize Professional Employer Organization (PEO)
This option is quite similar to the previous one, but additionally, PEO provides additional services such as employee recruitment, payroll management, and tax filing. It offers you with better rate than to go directly to insurance company or an insurance broker.
5. Utilize Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP)
SHOP is the exchange database of federal health insurance. This option may help you to obtain up to 50% percentage of tax credits regarding the healthcare plan. This might help you to save plenty of money to operate your business.
It is certainly not an easy feat for small businesses to complying with the law, while handling operation costs, and maintaining the satisfaction of their employees. Hopefully, the guide to find the health insurance quotes above can help you to discover and pick the best possible plan and coverage.
