Our consulting and servicing on small group benefits & solutions, individual & family plans as well as Medicare options are paid for by the insurance companies through commissions via a % of premium, flat per person per month fee or one time up front fee. You do not pay more for insurance, products or services by going through a licensed broker for the options we offer. There may be times when we provide you recommendations for third party administrators who you will pay directly. In some cases, we negotiate competitive fees on your behalf. We may in turn receive a commission from those third parties – but we are required to disclose this information to you! If you went direct to the insurance company you would pay the same price for the same coverage – only difference is you get an experienced human that you can call on for guidance, advocacy and expertise when you need us most.

For optimal small group benefits, we advise a minimum of 60 days lead time. For individual and family coverage, allow for at least 30 days. Regarding Medicare options, initiating the process 3 months before eligibility is ideal, although implementation typically takes around 3 weeks.

You have the opportunity to shop your benefits broker and when you find one that fits your needs, most often you can submit a Broker of Record change. Some insurance companies have a form for this and others simply require a letter on company letterhead. Once we become your broker of record, we can begin to pull up our sleeves and dive into your benefit package to begin servicing you and your employees. For individual and family or Medicare, we will only take BORs on a case by case basis.

You will need to have at least 1 full-time common-law employee on payroll, besides yourself. Every insurance carrier has different underwriting requirements and we can review what carriers will accept your specific case. We will walk you through some important things to consider when comparing individual & family coverage vs. small group coverage.

Technically, you are not required to offer benefits if you have under 50 full-time equivalent employees. However, according to the SHRM 2023 employee benefits survey, 78% of employees say they would stay with a company solely because of the benefits. 89% of employees ranked health-related benefits as top priority.

Yes! We specialize in small group benefit packages in CA and TX. We also have strategic partners across the country that we collaborate with if your company is located in a state that we are not licensed in or know well. Keep in mind, employee benefit packages are typically created in the state that the company is headquartered in. You will generally need to have 51% of the eligible employees located in that state. Some carriers are adapting to a more virtual office environment – so let’s talk about your company dynamic to help create a strategy. We are also well versed in ICHRAs (Individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement)

We know the Human Resource person or team is the backbone to your organization. That’s why we partner with them to support their role when it comes to on-boarding new hires, managing employee departures, coordinating COBRA, communicating options, or advocating for employees during complex insurance and healthcare situations.

Sort of … if your company has less than 20 employees, we can set up a Medicare only HRA. This provides an opportunity for us to educate your employees on the difference between Medicare and the small group plan. Taking into consideration their personal needs and dependent eligibility. If Medicare fits their needs, having the Medicare only HRA allows you to reimburse for eligible expenses such as Medicare premiums, IRMAA cost, supplement premiums, Part D premiums or Medicare Advantage premiums. More often than not, this saves the company money and provides lower out of pocket for the employee.

 Yes! We have solutions to manage COBRA, ACA, Section 125, SPD and Wrap Plan documents, Minimum Essential Coverage and more! Embedding plan documents in our online benefit admin system to help streamline access and communication

Some of our favorites are lifestyle spending accounts, pet insurance, stipends for dependents, Virtual mental health, perk packages for part time employees who are ineligible for traditional coverage. We enjoy getting creative to help you stand out when looking to attract and retain talent in your industry.

Absolutely! Not only do our one on one connections during open enrollment allow employees to feel heard and ask questions, getting to know the people in your organization is top priority for us. This way, when they find themselves navigating their healthcare experience, they can come to us for guidance.

Once the renewal is discussed and decided upon by the employer’s team with our consultation, we generate updated plan documents, build out the employee benefit portal and curate personalized communication to be distributed to the employees. We offer in-person meetings, zoom meetings and our adaptable engagement method where we combine multiple layers of outreach to make sure each employee is connected with through their preferred modality of communication. Within the last few years, we’ve discovered mandatory in-person or virtual meetings for the entire staff at once is less impactful than one on one or small batches of employees at a time. Regardless – we adapt to your employee demographics to ensure a successful Open Enrollment.

Generally, coverage outside of the US is minimally covered unless deemed a true emergency. We recommend a global policy that can be set up on a trip by trip basis or annually. It provides comprehensive global coverage outside of the employee’s home country. Reach out and we can provide a quote!