Zane Benefits Publishes New Information on How Small Businesses Buy Health Insurance
Park City, Utah (PRWEB) September 01, 2013 -- Today, Zane Benefits, the number one online small business health benefits solution, published new information on how small businesses buy health insurance.
According to Zane Benefits’ website, with health care reform right around the corner, many small businesses and their brokers are strategizing about the best health benefits solution for 2014. Here's a look at two common small business health insurance approaches: pure defined contribution and group health insurance through the new SHOP exchanges.
A "pure" defined contribution health plan is not linked to a group health insurance plan. Rather, the defined contribution health plan is the business's health benefit. It allows the employer to contribute any amount to employees' health care costs (including individual insurance), and gives employees access to individual health insurance subsidies through the new health insurance exchanges.
The business provides employees a fixed monthly allowance for health insurance premiums and other eligible medical expenses.
Employees submit their expenses to their defined contribution provider, and the business reimburses employees tax-free, usually on payroll.
One hurdle preventing some businesses to switch to a defined contribution health plan was key employees with a pre-existing condition. But this hurdle goes away in 2014 due to the guaranteed-issue mandate.
The SHOP exchange is similar to the current small group market except that the small business health care tax credits will only be available through the SHOP, and a limited number of states will offer "employee choice" plans.
Small businesses with less than 100 employees or less than 50 employees are eligible to shop in the small businesses health options exchange, depending on the state. The small business SHOP exchanges will open on October 1, 2013 for shopping and enrollment, with plan coverage starting January 1, 2014. Small business health care tax credits will only be available through the SHOP exchanges.
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About Zane Benefits
Zane Benefits was founded in 2006 to provide a revolutionized SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) administration platform ("ZaneHRA") for Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) and defined contribution health care. The flagship software provides a 100% paperless administration experience to small businesses and insurance professionals that want to offer better health benefits without a traditional group health insurance plan at lower costs. For more information about ZaneHRA, visit http://www.zanebenefits.com.
Christina Merhar, Zane Benefits, http://www.zanebenefits.com, 800-391-9209 6725, [email protected]
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