2006-08-17
Buying life insurance after a heart attack. Heart attacks raise a red flag for life insurance companies. Yet, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be denied a policy or pay sky-high premiums if you answer "yes" when asked about heart disease on your life insurance application.
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In order to keep premiums at an affordable level for your employees, you may have to consider a plan that will cover your employees only and not their dependents. Usually, though, this will be an option for the employee to make on their own. If you are a small business owner, you probably have considered offering your employees some sort of Group health insurance online plan. If you have and found the whole process a threatening and confusing process, here are a few points that you may want to consider when the next insurance agent calls with an offer.
What type of business do you have? Certain business types may have too large a risk factor for the insurance companies. Many times, high risk businesses will find they must become self-insured. One of the things to consider is whether or not you want to include all employees in your group plan. If you do, remember that most insurance companies won’t cover part time employees. You should ask the agent presenting the program if there may be a reduction in premiums if your waiting period is sixty days or longer.
To be considered full time, your employees must be working at least thirty hours per week. When you apply for a Group health insurance online plan, you will have to provide documentation to the insurance company that shows the hours each employee works. This is usually done with a copy of your quarterly report to your state’s department of labor. You will also have to decide what portion of the health insurance premium that you will pass on to your employees. Some plans may require that if fewer than, say, ten employees sign up for the plan it must be completely funded by the employer. Most often this is done on a percentage of employee enrollment bases. Another important consideration is the initial waiting period of your employees before they become eligible for the group plan you choose for them. Most insurance companies will insist on a waiting period of at least thirty days before they will accept your new employee.
Do you have one or more employees that have a chronic condition that would make them uninsurable on an individual plan or do any of your employees have dependents that might make them uninsurable? If the answer is yes, remember that this will drive up your premium due to the increased risk for the insurance company. However, too, a group plan may be the only alternative this employee has to obtain health insurance and you may or may not feel an obligation to help provide for this person. That is to say, if you have ten employees, for instance, there may be a requirement that at least fifty to seventy-five percent enroll in the program. Those that do not sign up will be required to sign a waiver of coverage form.
The final choice as to which type of plan you will offer is up
to you, the employer. These are a few of the considerations you
must make before you sign a contract for insurance. Each type of
plan will come with options that will have to be considered as well.
These options, if offered to your employees, may or may not increase
your premium. One good thing in all of this—at least the premiums
are generally guaranteed not to rise for at least twelve months.
After a year you get to start all over again!
More about health insurance...
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