Do you have questions about small business health insurance in California? Are you considering offering group health insurance as an employee benefit?
Employee perks like group medical insurance are an effective way to retain and attract new employees. If your dealing with high turnover, offering health insurance benefits can help keep the employees you most want to keep.
Researching business health insurance rates and plans is overwhelming. Keep reading to get simple answers to your biggest questions.
What is small business health insurance? Is it the same as group insurance?
Small business health insurance is group insurance for medical expenses that business owners arrange and provide to their employees. The cost of the insurance is lower than the employee would pay for individual insurance.
The cost of the small business health insurance premiums in California is typically paid partially by the business and partially by the employee. The business can pay the full cost of the premium if they choose to.
Under the Affordable Care Act, businesses with fewer than 50 full-time employees are not required to offer health insurance to employees. A California business needs at least two full-time employees to qualify for group health insurance programs.
What are the main reasons to offer health insurance?
There are several reasons for small businesses to offer health insurance to their California employees.
- Your staff will be healthier. Employees who don’t have health insurance are less likely to have regular check-ups or see doctors when they’re sick.
- Improved productivity. Employees with health insurance spend more days at work. Less sick time equals better productivity and larger profit margins for your business.
- Hiring advantage. A good benefits package that includes medical coverage gives your businesses an advantage when hiring new employees in California. Health coverage shows your employees that you value their hard work and encourages them to work for you and not your competitors.
What are the tax benefits of offering employees group health insurance?
Business owners may be hesitant to offer health insurance because of the expense. Luckily, the federal government offers California small businesses incentives that make health insurance affordable.
Buying group health insurance can help you earn tax refunds that put money back in your pocket instead of forking it over to the IRS. The smaller the business, the bigger the tax deduction.
Businesses that have fewer than 25 employees who earn $50,000 or less can earn tax deductions that cut the cost of health insurance premiums in half. The savings extend to your employees because the money they pay toward health insurance premiums is also tax deductible.
Everyone wins.
Can an employer offer different benefits to different employees?
Yes, individual employees within the same company can be offered different benefits. There is no federal law that says a small business must offer the same benefits package to all employees. But employers can’t discriminate against race, sex, age, religion or existing health problems.
Employees who have worked for a business the longest often receive better benefits. This gives employees a good reason to stay with your business for the long term.
How to research the best small business health insurance plans in San Diego County?
The first step when research small business health insurance is to get quotes on different medical plans. For this, you need to speak with a California group health insurance broker to get quotes on the available health plans and their respective costs.
Here’s the information you’ll need to provide your group health insurance broker to get reliable quotes:
- Number of employees
- Type of company
- Location of your company
- Demographics of your employees (age, sex, marital status, etc.)
- Types of coverage you want (such as essential health, dental, vision, etc.)
Schedule Your Free Consultation with a Local Group Health Expert
Preferred Insurance of California specializes in small business health insurance for local businesses in San Diego County. We service what we sell, which means we are personally there to help your employees with their health insurance needs.
Call to speak with a licensed health insurance broker.
Call (760) 385-8239