With all the talk of large corporations and their employment, most people are surprised to find the average company size in California is overwhelmingly between two and five people.  The so-called "mom and pop" business is more the norm and this allows for important considerations when choosing California health insurance for a family business.

Individual Family health insurance versus Small Group health insurance

The first real question to ask is whether you should look at Individual Family health coverage or a Small Group insurance plan.  There are pro's and con's to both.  Right away, the initial consideration is the health of you and your family members.  Individual/Family health insurance is medically underwritten in California.  This means that the insurance carrier can decline coverage or increase rates based on your health.  If you have a family member with recent or ongoing health issues, this may narrow your options pretty quickly toward the Small Group health insurance market.  If you are self-employed, you may still be able to deduct your health insurance premium at 100%.  Individual Family plans tend to be lower cost in premium but less rich in benefits.  This is actually not a bad approach when essentially buying coverage for yourself.

Small Group California health insurance is useful in a few different situations.  First, if you have health issues, Small Group health coverage is guaranteed issue in California which means that they cannot decline based on health.  The carrier can go 10% higher than the standard rate but no more for eligible companies.  There requirements to qualify for Group coverage but the three main ones are: 

-  At least two people formally tied to the company for more than 1/2 of prior calendar quarter (owner and/or payroll)
-  At least 75% of the eligible participants must go with the plan.
-  The company must pay at least 50% of the employee's health insurance premium.

These are the main stumbling blocks for small or new companies looking to purchase California Small Group health insurance. 

Secondly, if you plan to offer health benefits to current or future employees, you want to do so with a group plan and not individual plans.  There can be liability in a company paying for individual insurance plans and the State frowns on such practices.  If the coverage is really just for your family, this becomes less of an issue.

What type of California health insurance plan works with Family business?

Try to go with the lowest cost, comprehensive plan.  You are buying coverage for yourself so the premium savings with such a plan will usually outweigh higher deductibles, etc.  If you are offering employees coverage, this may not work as well.  Employees view health plans as a fringe type of benefit.  If you offer high deductible plans, it may not be well received depending on the type of industry you are in.  If your employees are frustrated with their out-of-pocket expenses with such a plan, you are paying for a benefit with no tangible benefit to retaining or attracting good employees.  The big difference is that purchasing health insurance benefits for employees is viewed as "carrot" as opposed to health insurance for you and your family.  Employee Elect with Anthem Blue Cross has allowed the best of both worlds in that they employer determine a fixed contribution (either dollar amount or percentage of a given plan) and then allows the employees to pick and choose from any of the plans.  The employee would pay the difference for a richer plan but this allows each employees to pick a plan that meets his/her needs.  This also works for family only plans where each spouse might have different needs or requirements.

Other important concepts to help you understand your California health insurance quote are:

Individual health insurance underwriting
Small Group RAFF rates
The concept of health insurance
California Small Group health insurance
Understanding health insurance costs


To run your instant health insurance:

California Individual Family health insurance quote
California group health insurance quote