HOW TO PICK THE BEST SMALL BUSINESS HEALTH INSURANCE

How to Pick the Best Small Business Health Insurance

How to pick the best small business health insurance? Are you looking at choosing small business health insurance benefits plans for your company? That makes sense: studies show that small business health plans can increase employee loyalty, attract talent and help decrease turnover. To ensure that you are attracting the best talent for your small business, you need to make sure that you’re choosing the right health benefits plan.

When comparing plans it’s always best to consider your employee demographics and health needs. But even this can only help so much: there are so many options for health plans that shopping for the right plan can leave you confused and frustrated.

Fortunately, there’s help. This article aims to make it easier to help you decide how a small business health plan may be right for you and your company by outlining the components of your benefits plan.

Let’s Start With Extended Health and Dental Coverage

When many people think of employee health benefits, they think of extended health and dental plans. Plans can include coverages for prescription drugs, dental coverage, vision care, paramedical services, hospital care and diagnosis, and out-of-country travel coverage. Small businesses can choose from a variety of options to fit your employee’s needs and your budget.

Prescription Drug Plans

Flexible prescription drug plans mean choosing the right drug brands, the right dispensing methods and finding alternative payors. It also means building cost sustainability into plans: a well-designed prescription drug plan can prevent big increases in plan costs.

Dental Coverage

With flexible dental coverage, you can build a plan from a range of coverage and deductible levels to include preventative, restorative, and orthodontic treatments. Because most dental coverage isn’t covered by provincial medical plans, this part of your benefits plan maybe especially important to employees and their families.

Vision Care

You can include eye exams, prescription lenses, frames, contact lenses, and laser eye surgery with configurable vision care options and coverage levels.

Add Disability Coverage

Flexible disability coverage will help you contain costs and reduce risk by giving employees replacement income and recovery plans in case of health-related absences from work. Plans allow you to choose a variety of short term disability options and long-term coverage options. GroupHEALTH plans also include the option of mid-term disability (an industry first), and “adaptable” long-term disability plan that gives you more choices for coverage.

Include Life and Critical Illness Coverage

For protection when unexpected harm occurs, businesses can offer life, critical illness and accident and serious illness coverage (ASI). Employees receive a lump-sum payment when a covered illness is diagnosed or an accident occurs. You can also give your employees the option to “top up” critical illness coverage if they need more coverage for themselves and their families.

Don’t Forget Employee Wellness Coverage

Employee wellness coverage encourages your employees to be more engaged and productive as they stay healthy. You can help reduce your benefits costs by providing for the physical and mental well-being of your employees. Employees can access the support they need for facing life’s challenge through counselling services, and even get physical fitness assistance to improve their physical and mental health.

Health Spending Account

With a Health Spending Account, each of your employees can choose to allocate their benefits dollars up to a per-employee maximum. You’ll only need to pay for what your employees use, without losing the leftover balance. Your employees have the freedom of choice to use their spending account to cover the costs of massage, physiotherapy, vision, dental, or other health services as they see fit.

Finding the right small business health plan

The process of learning, analyzing and picking the right small business health insurance benefits plan can take time. Your approach should include gaining a clear understanding of benefits options, finding expert advisors who take time to acknowledge your needs, and talking to your employees about their needs.

Importantly, you should also be prepared to transition employees onto a new plan. This includes providing information about employees to plan administrators and insurers and then assisting employees through the onboarding process.

An efficient claims process is key to employee satisfaction: plan members should be able to submit their claims easily anytime by taking a picture of their receipts on their mobile app or by allowing health practitioners to submit directly, on their behalf.

Each year, you should also be prepared to review your plan to make sure it’s properly maintained.

Good Advice is Key

Are you looking for help or advice to help you pick the best small business employee health benefits? Review your options with one of our licensed advisors on the phone or in-person or contact us for a comparison quote.

Whether you’re looking for extended health and dental coverage, disability coverage, and life and critical illness coverage, GroupHEALTH has affordable benefits packages that work as hard as you do.