Group Insurance Vs Individual Insurance for Employees

Posted by rina on March 1st, 2017

Group Insurance

The majority of people under the age of 65 in the United States have medical insurance through their employers' group insurance. Though you are not currently required by law to provide medical insurance, it is certainly an attractive perk to be able to offer to attract the most qualified and discerning employees to your company.

The group option can have the advantage of economy of scale. Since you will be covering a larger number of people, you can get a better rate that will apply for each individual. However, each individual will have less control over his or her coverage. The insurance company sometimes sees the group rate as a better risk, since they will be guaranteed to collect premiums from everyone, and most likely will have to pay out to relatively few members.

Most Group Insurance plans for businesses are managed care plans, most commonly either HMOs (health maintenance organizations) or PPOs (Preferred Provider Organizations). Managed care plans have lower costs or even free care for many types of preventative care. While HMOs are usually less expensive than other managed care plans, they are less flexible in choices for health care providers. PPOs have a higher fee for doctors outside of their network.

Individual Insurance

Individual health insurance is often more expensive for the employee depending on the age and health of the employee. Some common plan types include fee-for-service plans, PPOs, HMOs and catastrophic insurance. People over 65 years of age are eligible for Medicare with the government, as are younger people with certain types of disabilities. Medicare includes hospital insurance, medical insurance, and prescription drug coverage. Other government options such as Medicaid, State Children's Health Insurance, and high-risk insurance pools exist for individuals who qualify for the specific requirements of those programs. Call an insurance broker for further clarification about individual and small or large group health insurance plans. There are a lot of complicated options, but it is worth the effort to be sure that your employees and their families are in good health.

Source: - http://bit.ly/2loknWb