Employee medical plans for small and mid-sized employers, compared across carriers, with help on plan design, enrollment and the questions your staff will call about.
Group health insurance is medical coverage an employer offers to its employees, with the cost typically shared between the two. Because the risk is spread across the group, employees usually pay less than they would buying an individual plan on their own, and the employer's share is generally a deductible business expense.
For most small and mid-sized employers, benefits are the second-largest line item after payroll and one of the main reasons an employee takes a job or stays in it. Getting the plan design right matters as much as getting the price right.
Plan type. HMO, PPO, EPO and high-deductible plans trade network size, referral rules and out-of-pocket exposure against premium. A plan that looks cheap can cost employees more where it counts.
Contribution strategy. How much of the employee premium the company pays, and whether it contributes toward dependent coverage, drives both your budget and how many employees actually enroll.
Network fit. In southwest Missouri and the surrounding region, whether a plan's network includes the hospitals and physician groups your employees already use is often the deciding factor.
HSA and HRA options. A high-deductible plan paired with a health savings account or a reimbursement arrangement can lower premium while giving employees a tax-advantaged way to cover the gap.
Ancillary benefits. Dental, vision, life, and short and long-term disability are commonly added alongside the medical plan. Ask us which of these we can quote for your group.
Small employers — generally those with fewer than 50 full-time and full-time-equivalent employees — are not required by the Affordable Care Act's employer shared responsibility provisions to offer health coverage. Many still do, to recruit and retain people and to make the overall compensation package competitive.
Applicable large employers — generally those averaging 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalents, during the prior calendar year — can be subject to the employer shared responsibility requirements and additional reporting obligations.
The calculation is not as simple as counting the people on your payroll. Part-time employees affect the full-time-equivalent count, and related businesses under common ownership may have to be considered together. Employers approaching the 50-employee threshold should confirm their status with their benefits, tax or legal advisors.
Local pages for each office market: Joplin, Carthage and Springfield.
Our group health focus is small and growing businesses, particularly employers with roughly 2 to 50 employees.
We work with businesses that are offering health insurance for the first time, trying to make their benefits more competitive, facing a significant renewal increase, looking for alternatives to their current carrier, growing and adding employees, trying to balance better benefits against a manageable employer contribution, or unsure how much of the employee premium the company should pay.
Whether you have a handful of employees or you are approaching the 50-employee threshold, we can compare the available plans, lay out the costs and help you evaluate the options.
Give us a call. Depending on the size and needs of the group, we will determine whether we have an appropriate market and service solution for your business.
Our focus is straightforward small-group health insurance. For groups with more complex benefits, compliance or administrative needs, we will tell you honestly whether the account is a good fit for the markets and services we provide.
Send us your current renewal and an employee census and we will compare the alternatives line by line: carrier, network, deductible, copays, out-of-pocket maximum, employer contribution and employee contribution.
No obligation to change plans. Sometimes the right answer is that your renewal is competitive and you should take it — you will at least know that rather than wondering.
Start six to eight weeks before your renewal date if you can. That leaves room to compare properly, hold an enrollment meeting and get paperwork in before the effective date. Call 417.623.8300 or send it over.
We are not tied to a single health insurance company. Through our group health markets we have access to a broad range of carriers and plan options, so we can compare alternatives rather than presenting one company's renewal and calling it done.
Each year we review the renewal and what else is available, because costs, provider networks, plan designs and carrier pricing all change. The plan that made sense last year is not automatically the best value this year.
Three things employers usually want to work through first: controlling total cost, what benefits do for retention, and how the tax treatment works.
Before recommending a plan we learn about the company: the number of eligible employees, employee and dependent participation, your current plan and renewal pricing, your contribution, the doctors, hospitals and networks your people prefer, prescription needs, deductible and out-of-pocket preferences, and the monthly benefits budget.
Then we compare the available plans and walk through the trade-offs between premium, deductible, copays, coinsurance, networks, prescriptions and maximum out-of-pocket cost.
Once you choose a plan we coordinate enrollment so employees understand what is being offered and what they need to do.
We help with initial group enrollment, employee questions, adding eligible new hires, removing terminated employees, life-event and dependent changes, annual open enrollment, plan and benefit questions, and getting insurance cards and policy information.
Our job does not end when the group is enrolled. When an employer or an employee has a question about eligibility, enrollment, an ID card, benefits, billing, or where to go for help with a claim, they call us. We answer it or connect them with the right carrier resource to get it resolved.
When renewal arrives, we do not want the only question to be how much the premium went up.
We review the renewal, look at the alternatives where it makes sense, and help you weigh changing carriers, changing plan design, adjusting your contribution, or keeping what you have.
One agency for the employer and the employees. The goal is to help you offer a competitive benefit without spending more than necessary, and to give everyone a local agency to call when questions come up during the year.
Most carriers will write a group plan starting at two enrolling employees, though minimum participation and contribution requirements vary by carrier and state. Employers with fewer than 50 full-time equivalents are not required to offer coverage, but many do in order to compete for staff. Our group health focus is employers with roughly 2 to 50 employees.
Carriers usually set a minimum employer contribution, commonly around half of the employee-only premium, along with a minimum share of eligible employees who must enroll. Beyond those floors, the split is your decision and it directly affects participation.
Group coverage typically begins on the first of a month, and existing plans renew annually with an open enrollment window before the renewal date. Some carriers allow an off-cycle start for a new group. Starting the review six to eight weeks ahead of renewal leaves room to compare options properly.
Yes. Employees can generally enroll a spouse and dependent children, with the cost for dependents handled according to your contribution strategy. Some employers cover the employee only and let staff add family at their own expense.
We are appointed directly with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and reach additional group markets through First Connect. Call us with your census and we will tell you which plans are available to your group.
Send your renewal and an employee census. We will compare carriers, networks, deductibles and contribution strategies.