If you own or belong to a business or organization with between 2-50 employees, you may qualify (and would benefit from) Michigan Group Health Insurance. Although it is not required, health insurance for small business is often provided for employees by their employer. There are several advantages to having small business health insurance including: job satisfaction, worker retention, attracts better applicants for new jobs and the fact that it could be a possible tax advantage for the business.
Michigan Small Business Health Insurance laws require Michigan health insurance companies to sell any small business a group health insurance policy. The insurance company can however, mandate a minimum participation requirement. This means that a certain percentage of employees or members must purchase the health insurance offered or the entire health insurance policy may be rescinded.
Most group plans are organized through medical networks. There are several networks to choose from including: HMOs, PPOs, POSs, and HSAs (Health Savings Accounts). Knowing more about these networks will aid in your choice for new health insurance.
HMOs - A Health Maintenance Organization is a type of group health insurance plan. Groups of doctors, medical personnel and facilities work directly for the HMO. Patients are required to pick a primary physician who will direct his/her medical needs through the HMO system. The patient would go to the HMO clinic for routine care, paying a co-payment for each visit.
PPOs- A Preferred Provider Organization is a group system of health care organized by an insurance company. Medical providers accept the PPO's fee schedule and guidelines for its managed medical care. Each person will have a yearly out-of-pocket deductible to meet before the insurance company will start paying medical fees. You may see an out-of-network doctor without permission but, deductibles may be higher.
POSs - A Point of Service Plan is another type of managed care group health insurance with similar characteristics to that of an HMO and PPO. Patients select a primary physician who, like an HMO will direct your medical care with other in-network referrals if necessary. With a POS plan you are able to see an out-of-network specialist, like in a PPO, but you will be required to do the paperwork and submit claims yourself to the insurance company for your reimbursement. POS plans often pay even less for out-of network doctors.
HSAs - Health Savings Accounts were meant to replace high cost, low deductible health insurance policies which, for a lot of Americans, seemed out of reach. The money in these accounts are only for health expenses and are used along with a high deductible health insurance policy. The idea behind the HSA is that the high deductible insurance policies cost less and the money that is saved can be put into the HSA accounts. The money in the account is used to pay medical fees until the deductible is met.
At Golm Insurance Agency, we will listen to what is important to you about obtaining affordable health insurance for you and your employees. We will shop the marketplace in order to have the quotes available for your review and to help understand what exactly you are getting.
If you have further questions regarding Michigan Small Business Health Insurance, including questions about; deductibles, co-pays, prescription drug coverage etc., please go to our contact us page for information on how to reach us.