When you buy health insurance for a company, you have two choices: you can use a broker, or you can try to navigate the rough waters of dealing directly with the insurance provider and trying to negotiate the best deal. Using an insurance broker makes getting insurance for your company easier for you and ensures that you and your team get the best deals and best coverage possible.
Why Not Do It Yourself?
As the owner or executive of a business, your time has an inherent, measurable value. When you spend work hours doing tasks that aren't essential in directing your company toward increased productivity, coordinating with clients, etc., you are in effect missing out on potential earnings. The long hours you could waste attempting to learn a field with so many complex aspects and considerations would be much more expensive than the cost of hiring an individual who knows the system. This is why many executives find it an invaluable time saver to work through a reliable broker.
What Does the Broker Do?
A broker is different than an insurance company's agent. Brokers sell for multiple competing insurance companies. They offer a variety of options and are typically paid either on commission by insurance companies or they may charge you a flat fee. This is a wonderful direction to go if you are interested in having someone help you shop around and see what types of deals are out there.
When you speak to a broker, he or she will be trained to sift through the variables such as your employees' needs efficiently, and may even have access to deals and policies that you were not able to access as someone outside the insurance field. Many will be able to guide you toward amenities your company may need, such as nontraditional work hours or different language on service help lines.
You may have either an individual broker, or a dedicated account manager focused only on your company. This will make things smoother, as they do not have to be reminded of key information. They will give you information on things like how renewals are handled with the insurance company, so that you aren't surprised with that next bill. The broker will most likely sit down with you and make sure that the current plan still fits the needs of your employees and your budget.
If you wish to find out more about the individual broker you're about to hire, you can check his or her record by calling your state's insurance commissioner's consumer hotline. Contact an insurance broker to take care of your company's group health insurance today!
