As a small business owner in Florida, getting the best health insurance for your employees is vital. Health insurance coverage spans beyond legal compliance — it helps give your employees peace of mind and strengthens their loyalty to your business.
When it comes to finding the right coverage, you have to take factors like price and plan structure into account. Moreover, you need to understand your full range of options and other factors that can impact your costs. This guide will highlight your coverage options, key cost considerations and breakdown how networks differ when it comes to budget and covered services.
Coverage Options
Small businesses in Florida can offer employees a group plan, which uses cost-sharing to lower premiums, or health reimbursement through health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs).
Both options can work well for a business, but it really depends on the preferences of employees. Be sure to consider your team’s unique needs and the costs they’ll incur with any plan. This will help guide your decision when choosing a health insurance structure.
Read our complete guide for more information.
Cost Considerations
There are many costs that come into play when choosing the right Florida health insurance plan for your employees. Most importantly, small business owners need to think about premiums, the monthly cost an insurer charges for providing coverage.
The premium is often considered the most important factor because it is the most recurrent fee. It also affects how quickly someone meets their deductible, which is the full amount someone has to pay for their insurance provider to start paying for medical bills.
If a deductible is too high, employees will struggle to receive coverage, and it could make paying for their premium feel obsolete due to the out-of-cost expenses. Lower deductibles have higher premiums, which may be financially challenging for some people to afford.
You also have to consider copayment. This is the amount of money that people have to pay for covered services after meeting their deductible. You want manageable copayments to ensure that people can still access care when they need it, especially if they require specialized services or chronic care coverage.
The out-of-pocket expenses someone has to cover with health insurance are equally important as the premium and deductible. Consider your employees’ salaries, the cost of living, and what they will realistically be able to afford.
Combining all of these factors, you can evaluate plans more thoroughly to find a provider that offers good coverage at a truly affordable cost.
Network Coverage
The type of plan you choose affects how people can receive healthcare. Your health insurance policy can allow for in-network or out-of-network providers, but this availability affects pricing.
In-network providers are more affordable, and in some plans, they are the only doctors you can see with coverage. Out-of-network providers tend to cost more, but having the option to choose your own physician can be an immense benefit for many people.
Florida has a wide availability of various types of doctors, including family doctors, pediatricians, and a wide range of specialists, ranging from cardiology and immunology to gastroenterology and dermatology.
Depending on the type of plan you purchase, you and your employees will either need a referral from your primary care provider (PCP) to see an in-network physician, or you can choose your own in- our out-of-network doctors.
Make sure that you closely evaluate how costs vary from in-network and out-of-network coverage. You should also look at the number and variety of providers and facilities within a health insurance network to decide if it offers a good selection for its cost.
Benefits and Services
Health insurance plans allow you to cover multiple types of health needs for your employees. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health insurance providers must provide essential benefits that include:
- Free preventative care
- Mental health benefits
- Prescription drug coverage
- Pregnancy and childbirth coverage
- Inpatient and outpatient services
- Dental plans for children
The exact benefits and services beyond these can vary, so you should closely evaluate all your choices before making a final decision. In addition to offering free screenings and preventive coverage, along with mental health care and drug coverage, it can also be wise to look for plans with perks, such as coverage for wellness services.
Flexibility and Customization
The hallmarks of any great health insurance plan for small businesses is flexibility. While you may be choosing a single provider, you can look for ones that offer employees the opportunity to customize their coverage. This can help offset costs for you and create a stronger work culture.
In addition to health insurance, you may also want to look for providers who have add-ons, called riders, that are optional coverages. Examples include group vision and dental plans, critical illness insurance, enhanced mental health coverage and travel health insurance.
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