Business Group Policies

Keeping Good Employees

If you are a business owner, you probably know how difficult it is to find good employees-the kind you want to keep working with you until they retire from working altogether. Finding and retaining good employees typically requires that you offer different types of benefits for the employees to choose from. Some employees offer free childcare for working parents, while others offer flexible work hours. The most common type of benefit, however, has become the health insurance plan.

More than 60% of the U.S. population receives its health insurance coverage through an employer-sponsored group health insurance plan. Group health insurance plans were designed as a way for business owners to be able to offer the same plan to all of their employees without having to shop individual plans for each of them. These plains aid in employee retention because employees have to think twice about switching jobs if they aren't going to be able to receive the same health insurance plans. Those employees with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or a history of cancer will be much less likely to consider leaving, since the waiting period for any new employer-sponsored plan could mean serious difficulty for them. They are less expensive than individual plans since you are essentially buying the insurance in bulk and guaranteeing the insurance company a certain number of filled policies each year.

Types of Group Insurance Plans

Typically, health insurance providers will provide different types of health insurance plans based on the total number of participants you can reasonably expect to have signed on to the plan. These tiered levels of plans work to meet different budget needs and provide the widest array of affordable choices to your group.

• Small Group - Small group plans are offered to those small businesses that have between 2-50 eligible employees for their plan. Since small businesses make up the bulk of the American workforce, they offer a wide variety of different plan choices to choose from. These plans will include your HMO/PPO plans as well as HSAs, COBRA coverage and a choice of Cafeteria plan services as well.
• Middle Market - Middle market plans are for businesses that have between 51-3,000 eligible employees who may participate in the health insurance plan. They have the same offerings as the small group plans, but often at substantially lower rates.
• National Accounts - National accounts are for the largest employers in the country. Those businesses with more than 3,000 eligible employees such as state and federal government agencies fall into this category. While the overall price tag on these accounts is quite pricy, for the number of employees insured, the price is the lowest available anywhere in the nation.

Whether you are a small business owner searching for a plan for your employees or you are the head of human resources for an employer with more than 3,000 employees, Michigan Business Insurance can help find the group plan that is best for you. All it takes is a few minutes and some simple information in our form and you will receive quotes for various plans offered by national insurance companies that you can compare side-by-side before making a choice.