Business Plans

Employee Benefits

Are you looking to set up or review an employee benefit program? Benefit Concepts is a full-service insurance brokerage that can work with your business every step of the way, whether you’re a startup with just a few employees, or a large company employing thousands.

Click here to view a detailed presentation on the health insurance laws and regulations every business owner or benefits manager needs to know. You’ll learn who counts as an employee, what your regulatory responsibilities are and how to apply for coverage.

For 1099 contractors or solopreneurs, view this presentation, then see this page [HYPERLINK TO BC INDIVIDUAL PLANS PAGE]. We can help you meet your health coverage needs with an individual or family insurance plan.

Large employers or employers looking for a benefit review, please contact us to provide information about your organization’s size and goals.

The information below is most applicable to businesses that employ at least 2 full-time employees (30 hours or more on average per week), and that are looking to set up or develop their employee benefit plans.

Employee Benefit Plans for Small Businesses: Getting Started

The first thing we need to do is figure out if offering an employee health plan makes sense for your organization. If you only have a handful of employees and many of them are already covered through a spouse’s’ insurance or a government program (such as Medicare or VA benefits), a health plan may not be ideal.

Even if a health plan isn’t necessary, there are still other packages we can offer. Small businesses that offer dental, vision, short-term disability and life insurance have a leg up on recruiting and retaining the most talented employees!

For those businesses that need a health plan, here are the criteria and requirements.

Minimum Participation Requirement

Most employee health plans require at least 50% of your total employees (or 75% of your net-eligible employees — this excludes employees who are already covered by other employer-sponsored insurance or government programs) should be enrolling in the plan. If the need for the plan is there and you expect to meet or exceed the minimum participation requirement, the next step is to get an . . .

Employee Census

This is a form (usually a spreadsheet) where you collect the basic employee and employer information your Benefit Concepts agent will need to create a quote. Usually, the information can be taken from a payroll report, but items like spouse and dependent birth dates will need to be gathered directly from your employees, if coverage is being extended to families.

When collecting data, it is important to collect information on all of your employees — not just the ones who expect to enroll in the plan. Employees that wish to opt-out of coverage may “waive” coverage on the census and on their application.

The Employee Census is probably the trickiest part of the whole process, so your Benefit Concepts agent will be there to help you every step of the way!

And, for some groups, it’s easier all around to start with applications and work backward. We can do that too.

Selecting a Plan

Your Benefit Concepts agent will need to know about your organizational culture, your budget and about what you want to see from your employee benefit package:

• What style of plan interests you the most (low deductible, high deductible, co-pays, HSA, etc.)?
• How much do you plan on contributing to the premiums?
• What major hospitals or doctors would you and your employees use the most (e.g., which providers do you want in your plan’s network)?
• How comprehensive would you like your package to be?
• Are you offering other coverage benefits, like dental, vision, disability, long-term care and life insurance?
• Will offer additional life insurance benefits to top-level employees as a performance incentive program?

Remember — your employees’ paychecks are only part of their compensation packages. By offering benefits, you set your business apart and show your employees that you care about developing and retaining them!

A robust benefit package is also a fantastic way to attract top quality talent — employees that will be passionate about their work and help you to grow your business.

Additionally, we may discuss leveraging life and disability insurance to minimize financial risk to your business and household should you, a partner, or a key employee pass away or become disabled.

Once we have a good idea of what you’re looking for in a benefit package, we can narrow quotes to the plans that would best fit your needs and budget.

We’ll then send you a proposal, set a time to go over your options and define your decision-making window (quotes do expire after a period of time).

Applying for Coverage

Once you’ve decided on a plan, it’s time to collect applications. This can be done via FAX, e-mail, or by allowing one of our agents to come to your business and collect applications in person. Sometimes it’s easiest when the agent is present to visit with your employees, answer their questions and discuss any personal concerns they may have.

Employees who waive coverage (choose not to take the employer-sponsored health plan) still need to fill out an application, but will indicate on the form that they are choosing to waive coverage.

In addition to employee applications, there is an employer application. This requires information about the business itself: address, tax ID, point of contact, payment options and owner’s’ signature.

Once these have been completed, they’re submitted along with a payroll report, a copy of the quote and payment of the first month’s premium.

Transitioning to your new plan

It usually takes about 10 to 14 days for a new insurance application to be processed and issued. Once the new policy has been approved, Benefit Concepts will help you terminate any previous insurance that your new plan will replace.

Additionally, we’ll be on hand to answer any questions you or your employees may have and assist in making sure everyone gets their new cards and certificates of coverage.

Ongoing Maintenance

If you elect Benefit Concepts to administer your plan, remember that it will be your responsibility to notify us promptly of any new hires or terminations.

If you’d prefer to administer your own plan directly, we’ll show you how to add or delete employees from your roster.

You’ll receive an annual rate renewal. This comes in about 60 days before your plan will renew for the year and explains any changes to policy structure or premiums.

When your renewal date approaches, it would be a good time for us to review your benefits and go over any changes in your company or organizational culture. Your company’s needs are always changing and we’ll want to make sure your benefits are still well-suited to match them. And we could find ways to save your business money in the coming year!