All About Group Health Insurance Coverage

Consistently employees have ranked health insurance as the most important of all their benefits. Employers, of course, are aware of this and use this fact to help attract and retain quality employees. By providing group health insurance coverage that is perceived by employees, and potential employees, as being a valuable asset, employers make themselves more competitive in the labor market. When done properly, this can be a win-win situation for all concerned.

Group health insurance plans can be described as either indemnity (fee-for-service) or managed care plans. Indemnity plans have nearly disappeared as companies have worked to contain rising health care costs by more often opting for the less expensive managed care plans. Traditional indemnity plans tend to be the most expensive; followed by PPO’s, POS’s, and then HMO’s (the latter all managed care plans).

Group health insurance coverage does vary from one plan to another. However, pretty much all will cover hospital and emergency care. In addition, most will cover outpatient care for such services as routine doctor visits and lab work.

Less consistent is coverage for maternity services, prescription drugs, and ambulance services. If included, many of these services may have a different (often higher) copayment.

Companies with between 2 and 50 employees are typically classified as a small business, and as such would only qualify for small group health insurance; however, in the U.S. each state has its own set of regulations that determines what business can be classified as a "small business”.

In an environment of ever-growing health care and health insurance costs, eligibility in a group health insurance plan is becoming critical for many employees. Even with paying a higher percentage of premium costs than in the past, employees still are better off financially (and receive greater choices) with group coverage than with an individual health plan. At the same time, business owners are fully aware that offering quality group health insurance coverage will help create a more satisfied, and therefore more productive, workforce.

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