When your business grows to 20, 30, 40, or 50 employees, something else grows too: the number of different needs you’re trying to meet. Your team may include younger employees just starting their careers, parents caring for a family, and long-term employees with established physicians and health care procedures. Some may prioritize lower monthly premiums. Others may want a broader network of providers or specific doctors and specialists. So, how do you choose health insurance for 20-50 employees when no one plan fits all?
You give your employees more choices. That’s the idea behind CaliforniaChoice, a different approach to employee benefits designed to let employers control costs while giving employees more ways to choose coverage that suits their needs. Here are five reasons why CaliforniaChoice is perfect for growing businesses with 20-50 employees.
5 reasons why CaliforniaChoice is great for businesses with 20-50 employees
1. Fixed contributions keep your budget predictable
One of the biggest challenges growing businesses face is understanding their budget for employee health insurance. CaliforniaChoice puts you in control of your contributions. You decide how much you want to contribute toward employee insurance premiums. Depending on your policy, you can contribute a certain percentage or dollar amount toward eligible coverage options.
Employees then use your donation toward their favorite health plan. If the coverage they choose costs more than your contribution, they will pay the difference through payroll deductions. This gives you a predictable starting point for your benefits budget while providing employees with greater flexibility.
And your strategy doesn’t have to stay the same forever. When you renew, you can revisit your contributions and adjust them to your business and employee needs.
2. More employees means more reasons to offer more choices
Among 20-50 employees, you’re likely to see a more diverse workforce and more diverse employee requirements for health benefits. This is where employee selection methods can come into play.
CaliforniaChoice combines 7 participating health plans and more than 100 coverage options in one plan. Depending on your location and the options available to your team, employees may be able to obtain HMO, PPO, and HSA-qualified coverage.
Participating health plans include:
- anthem blue cross
- health network
- Kaiser Permanente
- Sharp Health Plan
- Sutter Health Plan
- United Healthcare
- Western Health Advantages
Four participating health plans operate statewide and three are regional. The plans available to your team depend on where your business and employees are located.
3. Your benefits can help you compete for talent
As your business grows, so does competition for employees. You may be competing against larger companies that offer strong benefits packages. You may also be competing with other small and medium-sized businesses for the same talent. Health insurance can be an important part of this competition.
A strong employee benefits program can help you attract candidates, retain current employees, and show employees that you’re investing in them. With CaliforniaChoice, you can offer a benefits experience that goes beyond just offering the same health plan to everyone. More choices can make your benefits package more relevant to more employees.
4. Establish a benefit plan beyond medical insurance
Health insurance is often a core part of an employee benefits package, but not necessarily the entire plan. CaliforniaChoice also gives you the option to add additional benefits, including:
- Dental: Offers a variety of options for a range of covered dental services.
- Imagine: Receive voluntary vision benefits and discounts through Vision One Eyecare.
- Chiropractic and Acupuncture: Options may include coverage for exams, adjustments and other services.
- Life and AD&D: Assurity Life coverage, including available life benefits.
Adding ancillary benefits can help you create a more complete employee benefits package without having to piece it all together yourself.
5. Don’t overlook CaliforniaChoice’s additional services
Health benefit plans have a lot of value beyond the health plan itself. CaliforniaChoice provides additional resources through Business Solution Suite and Member Value Suiteinclude:
- Premium plan (POP) only: Free initial setup.
- Flexible Spending Account (FSA): Available to groups of 15 or more employees.
- CARL-COBRA: Participants invoice, premium collect and remittances.
- Listening savings: Discounts on hearing tests, hearing aids, batteries and more.
- California Prescription Card: Save up to 80% on prescription costs on eligible drugs, which may help lower out-of-pocket costs.
- California benefits: Deals on entertainment, theme and water parks, sporting events, museums, travel and more.
- Choose Health™: Fitness center membership is $28 per month and also saves money on fitness equipment and wellness services.
- Pet insurance: MetLife and Spot offer discounted insurance.
These additional fees can add value to employees while providing employers with more resources to incorporate into their overall benefits strategy.
Why employee selection matters as your business grows
The benefits of managing 20-50 employees are much different than managing a smaller team. You need to consider more people, more diverse needs, and potentially more competition for talent. This doesn’t mean your benefits have to get more complicated.
CaliforniaChoice combines multiple health plans, coverage options and additional benefits in one plan. You can define your contribution, employees can choose from the options you provide, and you can revisit your strategy as you update it. It’s a way to provide more choices to a growing workforce without giving up control of benefit budgets. This is especially valuable when you have 20 to 50 employees and they don’t all want or need the same things.
How to compare health plans in your group
If you are evaluating health insurance for 20-50 employees, your broker can help you compare your options, understand the plans available, and develop a contribution strategy that makes sense for your business. The right benefits strategy should fit your business and Give your employees options that work for them. Talk to your agent or find an agent here to get started with CaliforniaChoice.
