California Group Health Insurance Quotes

QuoteBroker Insurance Services helps individuals, families, business owners, associations and their membership locate affordable insurance and other valuable employee benefit options.

Whether you are looking for individual health insurance, family health insurance or group health insurance products, QuoteBroker is an experienced independent brokerage firm that can assist you.

Over the years, our research has found that many association and group health insurance plans are not competitively priced and offer fewer plaqn options that have little or no flexibility to it's participants. We are often able to locate insurance benefit options and lower insurance premiums to our group clients. We also offer a series of "voluntary insurance benefits" that offer employees and association members products and services that are most important to them.

Additionally, we have found in particular that associations do not know how to locate and negotiate member benefits, therefore settling for expensive insurance plan options. Large does not always mean "best". Many large association insurance plans simply over charge members or have the young and healthy individuals subsidize their groups' poor medical claims experience. Your private company can usually purchase the same association plan offered, or a different insurance plan at a significant savings.

Associations, small business owners and independent contractors need affordable health insurance coverage for themselves and to retain key employees. Finding quality coverage at an affordable price has always been difficult – until now.

Our combination of years of experience and advanced market research will benefit your group or association. You should select QuoteBroker as your next insurance and employee benefit broker/representative because:

• We are and experienced firm that is totally independent and not owned or subsidized by any insurance company
• Small groups under 50 employees can receive immediate health insurance quotes online 24/7.
• Shop and compare insurance plans and benefits online, or let our health insurance / employee benefit specialist assist your company or association.
• We have established insurance company relationships that offer specialty products and services, often at deep discounts.
• Our office serves as your advocate when shopping insurance companies or negotiating rates on your behalf.
• We offer periodic plan reviews to compare your plan against industry trends, new products / prices in the marketplace and survey your membership for overall plan participation satisfaction.

QuoteBroker Guide to Buying Group Health Insurance

Group health insurance coverage is a policy that the company purchases on behalf of their employees. Many employers will also offer coverage to the employee's dependents (family members) as a benefit for working for the employer. Most working Americans have group health insurance coverage through their employer or the employer of a family member.

Due to various insurance regulations at the state level of government, the laws regarding health insurance offered by the by employers can vary significantly from state to state. As millions of Americans work for small employers, this for health insurance purposes is considered a group of 50 employees or less. Large groups or large group employers tend to have 50 or more employees. This is important because the laws about how health insurance coverage can be issued to large groups are different than those for small employer groups.

Small Group Health Insurance (50 or less employees)

Federal law requires that no matter what pre-existing medical conditions small employer group members may have, no small employer or an individual employee can be turned down by an insurance company for group health insurance coverage. We refer to this as a "guaranteed issue" plan.

In most states, small employer health insurance companies are allowed to look back at individual group applicants medical histories for pre-existing medical conditions and may decide not to cover certain conditions for a specified period of time. This is known as an exclusionary, or a pre-existing condition waiting period. Federal law states that small group health insurance companies may impose no more than a six-month look-back and a 12-month exclusionary period for pre-existing conditions, but some states have reduced these time periods. Small group health insurance companies are also required to give employees credit for prior coverage against any pre-existing condition waiting period that may be imposed, as long as the employee had other health insurance coverage within 63 days of the application for new coverage.

Receive an Instant Small Group Health Insurance Quote click here
Speak to a Small Group Health Insurance Specialist: 800-783-0802 x 711

Large Group Health Insurance (51 or more employees)

Large group health insurance policies do not have to be offered on a guaranteed-issue basis and the health insurance company could reject an entire large employer group based on its medical claims history. However, no individual employee can be excluded from coverage based on his/her medical history. If a company issues a policy to a large employer, then all of its eligible employees must be issued coverage.

Law also requires health insurance companies to give employees credit against any exclusionary period for pre-existing conditions if they have had prior health insurance coverage within 63 days of obtaining the group coverage from the large employer.

Receive an Large Group Health Insurance Quote click here
Speak to a Large Group Health Insurance Specialist: 800-783-0802 x 711

Self Funded Group Health Insurance

Larger group employers (usually several hundred employees or larger) may elect to either fully or partially self-insure their group health insurance benefit plans. This means that instead of paying health insurance premiums to a company, the employer sets a pool of money in reserve and assumes its own risk for employee health benefit claims. Companies that self-insure generally buy what is known as a stop-loss insurance policy to protect themselves against losses above a certain threshold and contract with either a third-party administrator or a health plan to administer benefits to service claims. Self-funded plans are regulated federally by the Department of Labor under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and then are often referred to as ERISA plans.

Health Insurance for Self Employed Individuals, Sole Proprietors or 1099 employee's

Some states define a small employer group as having between 1-50 employees, however most require companies to have at least two employees to qualify for group health insurance coverage. Because a two party group qualifies as a small business, the same rules discussed in the small business health insurance section above apply. It should also be noted that many corporations or partnerships that do not have any employees, may qualify as a two person group. To prevent fraud, health insurance companies require "proof" of the company legal status; Partnership, Corporation or Limited Liability Company. We have many small group clients consisting of two individuals, often spouses who are both officers of their small business qualify for group health insurance "guaranteed issue" coverage.

Broker Tip: As a sole propietor you should consider both individual and group health insurance coverage options. Individual health insurance plans usually offer more plan design choices and can be much less expensive than group health insurance. The popular belief that group health insurance is always cheaperthan individual insurance coverage is factually not true.

Receive an instant Small Group Health Insurance Quote click here
Receive an instant Individual Health Insurance Quote click here
Speak to a Health Insurance Specialist : 800-783-0802

COBRA

Every year millions of people that lose their group health insurance coverage, due to a job change, divorce, job loss or other reason are able to keep their group coverage, at least temporary basis. Most people who are able to continue their group health insurance benefits are eligible to do so according to the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, better known as COBRA. However, COBRA does not apply to all employers, and many states have mandated other continuation-of-coverage options for people who are not covered by COBRA. Also, many people leaving group insurance for the individual market have group-to-individual health insurance portability benefits that are mandated by federal law.

If you believe that you are paying too much for your COBRA Health Insurance, or you have exhausted your COBRA benefits, please call our office and an insurance specialist will be happy to assist you with any questions, or locate a new affordable health insurance plan.

Receive an instant Individual Health Insurance Quote click here
Speak to a Health Insurance Specialist : 800-783-0802

Let us help you compare your current plan to other available options. Get a second opinion today – Contact Us

Quotebroker's team of professionals is available to assist you with your business insurance needs. Contact our office at (661) 702-1755 to speak to one of our corporate benefit consultants or begin your personal automated quote search below.