Decide what types of preventive medicine your plan will cover.
Providing health insurance for your employees is a benefit that your current employees will appreciate and will serve as a recruiting tool when hiring new employees. Health insurance for employees can range from a simple major medical plan to more comprehensive plans which offer employees choices between deductibles, co-payments and coverage amounts. As you develop your health insurance plan, research your options to ensure you make the best decision for the employees and your organization.
Research and Prepare
Research several insurance companies in your area. Choose the companies to research by visiting their websites and soliciting advice from other human resources professionals in your region. Potential insurers generally require a census of your employees before providing you a quote. A census contains names, ages, dependents, gender and current coverage amounts for each employee. If you are currently covered with another company, obtain a claims history from your current company before contacting new insurance companies.
Decide Plan Benefits
Write down the plan benefits you wish to provide your employees. Decide whether you will offer different levels of coverage within the same plan. For example, you may offer a high deductible plan alongside a lower deductible plan. The higher deductible plan allows an employee to save in monthly premiums by assuming more financial responsibility. Decide whether to offer a co-payment, preferred provider option or a simple network plan. Determine whether you need a national network of doctor's or whether a local network is satisfactory. Work with your senior leadership team to outline which preventive care benefits are important to your organization, including mammograms, immunizations and colonoscopies.
Contact Providers
Contact a plan representative within the company and arrange for a face-to-face meeting. Present the representative with your desired plan benefits and explain your funding options. Tell him whether you are interested in a quote for a self-funded plan, a fully insured plan or whether you are interested in participating in a co-op or insurance consortium made up of several small employers. Ask each representative to give you quotes for more each type of benefit plan you are interested in, and compare the final quotes.
Considerations
Consider hiring an insurance consultant to coordinate your new insurance coverage. Consultants have relationships with a variety of insurance vendors, are familiar with ever-changing state and federal regulations and may be able to find you a more agreeable price than finding an insurer on your own. When considering new coverage, examine your company's strategic marketing plan to determine if your organization has plans to expand into new states or overseas markets. Both changes may affect the size and type of provider network you select.
Tags: deductible plan, your employees, your organization, coverage amounts, Decide whether, insurance companies, plan benefits
