The federal Affordable Care Act requires any employer with 51 or more full-time workers to provide them with health insurance. Most working-age people get their health insurance in that manner. When large employers provide workers with group health insurance, smaller job providers might find it more difficult to retain or hire good workers. After all, the cost of individual health insurance plans is relatively costly.
The competition for good employees forces many small businesses to find ways to provide them with health insurance benefits. The cost of doing so can be high for small businesses compared to their corporate counterparts. Fortunately, small business health insurance plans enable small businesses to compete better with health insurance benefits for their workers. Let’s take a look at what they consist of.
Gives Small Employers More Options
Officials for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services say the number of uninsured adults between ages 18 and 64 has declined from 14.% in 2020 to 11.8% in 2022. A significant amount of the decline in uninsured Americans is due to jobs resuming following the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020. Small businesses employ most people in the United States. So much of the reduction in the number of uninsured in the nation is directly due to small business health insurance coverage for workers.
Making it more affordable for small businesses to provide workers with health insurance benefits is good for the employers, workers, and the nation. Small business health insurance does offer these benefits for businesses and nonprofits with 50 or fewer full-time workers.
Plans Are the Same for Small and Large Employers
Private health insurers offer the same types of insurance for small businesses as they do for large ones. The plans are group policies, and the insurers generally are happy to make the pool of insured people even larger. The more workers who obtain health insurance for themselves and their qualifying families, the more the insurers can spread out the risk. Premiums generally can go lower when more and more people are insured.
Small business health insurance generally enables your workers to choose from a variety of policies. Small business owners and heads of nonprofits also could obtain health insurance coverage for themselves and their spouses or children.
Federal Small Business Health Options Program
The federal Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) also makes it possible for small businesses and nonprofits to provide their employees with health care benefits. Business owners and nonprofit directors can see if their entities qualify for the SHOP and obtain small business health insurance at any time of the year. Those that qualify must get at least 70% of their workers to sign up for health care coverage from the many options offered through SHOP. Small businesses and nonprofits also have the option of offering a single health insurance plan as well as several other options.
SHOP Gives Employers Options for Benefits
The program enables employers to determine how much their contributions will be toward the premiums that their employees pay for health insurance. Dental, vision, and hearing coverage are also up to the job provider to decide whether or not their employees might obtain those benefits, too. Employers also can choose whether their workers can obtain coverage for dependents and how long new employees should wait before getting their health care benefits.
Health insurance usually is obtained through the equivalent of a health insurance exchange for individuals. Instead of obtaining a specific policy, employers can use SHOP to obtain health care benefits for workers with the assistance of the respective state exchange that is located where they do business.
Private Insurers Often Have More Plans Available
While SHOP does help small businesses and nonprofits to provide workers with health insurance, the number of available policy options often is limited. A limited selection helps insurers offset the cost of providing health insurance coverage for workers in smaller numbers.
Private insurers typically have more types of policies available that are relatively affordable because they are group health insurance plans. You could shop and compare to determine which insurers have the best policies and the widest variety. Then you can pick and choose the ones that you want to provide to your workers.
To learn all about our plans, get in touch with our team today!
