Buying a group insurance plan can be rewarding for individual group members such as employees as well as employers. Today, many companies and businesses prefer to cover their employees with group insurance as part of the overall compensation.

Group Insurance health plans provide coverage to a group of members, usually comprised of company employees or members of an organization. Group health members usually receive insurance at a reduced cost because the insurer’s risk is spread across a group of policyholders. Such a plan provides the same level of insurance coverage to all members of a group irrespective of their age, gender, or occupation.

The primary advantage of a group plan is that it spreads risk across a pool of insured individuals. This benefits the group members by keeping premiums low, and insurers can better manage risk when they have a clearer idea of who they are covering. In addition, insurers can exert even greater control over costs through health maintenance organizations (HMOs), in which providers contract with insurers to provide care to members.

The HMO model tends to keep costs low at the expense of restrictions on the flexibility of care afforded to individuals. On the other hand, preferred provider organizations (PPOs) offer patients a greater choice of doctors and easier access to specialists but tend to charge higher premiums than HMOs.

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), businesses with 50 or more full-time employees must provide health insurance to full-time employees and dependents under the age of 26 or pay a fee. Insurers must also provide group coverage to organizations with as few as two employees. Some states allow self-employed individuals to qualify for group coverage plans as well. Group health insurance plans are selected and purchased by companies or organizations and then offered to employees. In most states, a group insurance plan is required to have a 70% participation rate, though some states’ minimum rate is higher or lower.

It might be time to switch insurers whenever the service that your existing insurer provides doesn’t meet your needs. For example, if you have a poor claims experience or an unexplained rate increase, it might be time to consider other options

If you cancel a previous policy before a new policy is effective, you could run into some serious financial problems.

Contact us today to help you with multiple options to choose from.