Zane Benefits Publishes New Information on Small Business Health Insurance
Park City, UT (PRWEB) December 23, 2013 -- Today, Zane Benefits, the number one online small business health benefits solution, published new information on small business health insurance.
According to Zane Benefits’ website, building a successful company is hard work. This includes offering competitive compensation and benefits to recruit and retain the best employees. All small companies face unique challenges when it comes to finding small business health insurance.
There are two primary categories of health insurance for small companies to choose from - individual health insurance and group health insurance.
Individual health insurance plans are health insurance plans purchased by individuals to cover themselves and/or their families - just like car insurance. Anyone can apply for individual health insurance.
As of 2014, insurance companies can no longer decline individuals for individual health insurance based on a pre-existing medical condition as they could previously. Also as of 2014, there are new tax credits available to eligible employees when they purchase individual health insurance.
When small companies decide on the individual health insurance route, they often offer employees a healthcare allowance to use on individual premiums. This type of offering is called a pure defined contribution approach or a Healthcare Reimbursement Plan.
Group health insurance plans are a form of employer-sponsored health coverage. Costs are typically shared between the employer and the employee, and coverage may also be extended to dependents. In certain states, self-employed persons without other employees may qualify for group health insurance plans. With group health insurance, the company selects the plan to offer to employees.
Small companies with up to 25 full-time equivalent employees may qualify for a tax credit for offering employee health benefits. As of 2014 the tax credit is up to 50% of a small company's health insurance costs. Also starting in 2014, the tax credit is only available for plans purchased through the small business SHOP exchanges.
Starting January 1, 2015, employers with 50 or more full-time equivalents who do not offer affordable, minimum essential coverage can face monthly penalties if at least one employee uses a premium tax subsidy to obtain health insurance through the state health exchange. If your company does not have more than 50 FTE employees, you are not subject to these penalties.
According to Zane Benefits’ website, defined Contribution Health Plans allow employers to offer health benefits without offering a traditional small group health insurance plan. Instead of paying costs for a specific group health plan, employers allocate monthly allowances for their employees to spend on private health insurance.
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About Zane Benefits
Zane Benefits was founded in 2006 to provide a revolutionized SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) administration platform ("ZaneHealth") for 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 Zane Benefits, visit http://www.zanebenefits.com.
Christina Merhar, Zane Benefits, http://www.zanebenefits.com, +1 (800) 391-9209 Ext: 6725, [email protected]
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