This week, I want to talk a little bit about group health insurance.

Many people don’t realize that you can put in place group insurance at anytime of the year, if you have a qualified group.

You can put this in place, meaning that you have a mid year plan start, but your benefits will run for a calendar year.

Why is that important to know?

• Because with the craziness of the holidays, at the end of the year, when open enrollment for marketplace is taking place, I’m swamped and busy, and it may be difficult to get an appointment.
• Also, if you decide mid-year you would like to make this switch, to a group plan, you have the option to.
• For a lot of companies, it’s much easier to do their plan open enrollment, during the second quarter.
• Your benefits can still run on the calendar year, to help your employees track their yearly benefits versus deductible usage etc.

When looking at group plans, note these facts:

• The plan renewal date will change.
• If you decide to change plans to a group plan, your deductible can carry over and remain applied. (I make sure on my end that these details are put in place).
• This way we are doing all the admin for your plan when it is non-peak time (unless your peak season is May and June, then we don’t want to do it then). For most people, the end of the year is really busy, and this is a good option for them.
• Essentially, you have a January 1 start date as your benefit start date, and a plan start of date of mid-year. So, it’s not a big deal to make them separate. I do it all the time.

Advice for yourself or people you know who may want to switch to a group plan:

• Keep that in mind if you know any employers that already offer group health insurance, and maybe they’re thinking of switching, but the thought of doing it at the end of the fiscal year is a nightmare for them, let’s talk about it. This may e a good option for them.
• Maybe their broker never mentioned this to them. If they love their broker, advise them to just bring it up to the broker. But if they don’t have a good relationship with a broker, or don’t have a broker, I’ve had people that tried to do this themselves. Please don’t do that.
• Have an expert help you.
  • I can help navigate this stuff because it is confusing, and we want to make sure that it is done right!

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.