Published by Allen Brown
As a business owner, you want to offer the best insurance plan for both your employees and yourself. There are however quite a few different options available, and it can be hard to choose one that is right for you. We aren’t here to decide for you, but rather to show you what choosing a group health insurance plan means versus an individual plan.
Group Insurance
If you are unfamiliar with what exactly group insurance is, it is simply a health insurance plan for your staff. A group insurance plan means that as a business owner, you pay part of all of the cost of the premiums for the employees. You might be wondering why you would do this, but there are tax benefits involved in choosing this plan.
Individual Insurance
With individual insurance, the person purchases the insurance themselves. By doing so, they tend to have greater awareness and control of the plan they choose. This does usually mean they will end up paying more. As a business wonder, there are ways to assist your employees to afford insurance, but the cost of paying their premiums is down to them.
With individual plans, your insurance is not linked to your job, which means that you can easily change your job without losing health insurance.
When Does Cover Start?
Group insurance provides an employee with almost immediate coverage in their new role. This is very important for people as they want the safety and security of knowing they are protected. A huge part of people opting for certain job roles is the benefits they provide. It can be insanely difficult for them to obtain these benefits, specifically good health insurance, outside of employee benefits. Because of this offering group, health insurance is a fantastic incentive to the cream of the crop and is sure to land you amazing employees.
With individual insurance plans, there is usually a waiting period which means that you need to wait a certain amount of time before you can use your insurance policy to cover your health costs. With a group policy, you are covered from the day you receive your insurance benefits. You will also not need to be tested before receiving healthcare coverage.
Quality
The quality of the insurance you can provide your employees usually outweighs the insurance they can afford. Having healthy and protected employees should be a priority. If your employees are stressed about a lack of good coverage or finances, then this can very easily bleed into their work quality. To protect your employees’ mental and physical health, group insurance is a better bet.
It is worth noting that the payments your employees make tend to come out of their pre-taxed paychecks, which can mean they make good savings. With individual insurance, employees will pay their insurance premiums post-tax, which makes it a lot more financially difficult to afford good health coverage.
Investment
As a business owner, you will pay around half of the premiums for the insurance, these can however be deducted from your taxes. As explained by the team at GroupEnroll.ca, depending on your circumstances, you may also be eligible for tax credits. You are also investing in your employees and their health, which is an investment in your business. You can obtain a quote fairly easily online to see what coverage, benefits, and deductibles your business can have. Knowing the options available to you is key to making the most informed decision for your business.
Control
With individual insurance plans, you tend to have more control of your policy. As long as you have the funds for it, you can select a plan that works for you. You can choose the doctors and health providers that you trust, and you can cater to your health concerns. With a group plan, this can be more difficult as a group plan cannot adequately cover each individual’s personal health issues or concerns. This means that group health insurance tends to be more general and cannot be customized to an individual.
With a group plan, pre-existing conditions tend to cover, which is a huge benefit. This is rarely ever the case with individual insurance, which means it can be difficult for those with pre-existing conditions to find affordable healthcare.
There is no one right answer, and it all depends on your circumstances. Choosing to opt for group insurance provides your employees with financial benefits as well as your business. At the same time, employees will have less control over their insurance benefits. To make this decision easier, you may want to lay out the pros and cons and see what fits your business best.