If you are an employer looking for Health Insurance for your employees, there is a ton of information out there. So much, that it gets very confusing and misleading. Employers don’t know who to speak to about it for fear of getting bad advice, cause lets face it….we’re all sales people. Here is something to think about. Would you go to a General Practitioner for a heart condition? Probably not. You would seek the advice from a Cardiologist…a Specialist. Same goes for insurance. Health Insurance agents are “specialists” when it comes to Employee Benefits and the Health Insurance industry. Whether you use a Health Insurance Specialist or a General Insurance agent, there is not cost to you. Our commission is built into the Health Insurance premium. It either goes to a Specialist or a Generalist.
The Affordable Care Act has complicated Health Insurance even more
If you’ve taken a look at your Health Insurance policy, or read the news lately, there are tons of mandates and compliance issues that employers are subjected to now because of the ACA (Affordable Care Act). These mandates include certain notifications to employees, paperwork that employers have to have, and IRS filings that companies are required to do by Federal Law each year. Once again, if a broker doesn’t specialize in Health Insurance, there’s a good chance they can’t advise people appropriately. The details of all of the compliance issues are mind numbing, but necessary for companies to have a good handle on them. The fines for non compliance are staggering. If you’ve ever been to a Dept of Labor audit….they are not fun, and very intrusive.
The IRS and Dept of Labor are not fooling around
I’ve been doing this long enough to have gone through a couple of DOL audits with companies. Luckily, those companies came out fine, but the scrutiny of these departments are pretty amazing. Once again, having someone that you trust, that knows the Employee Benefits-Health Insurance industry is key. We are recognized as one of the Bay Area’s leading agencies in helping employers looking for affordable Health Insurance coverage for their employees. We know the compliance landscape in the industry. But, there are others that do too…but not many. When you’re ready to use a Health Insurance broker, make sure you’ve done your homework…whether its us, or another agency, check out their reviews, do your due diligence. It will save your sanity in the end!
Steve Brauer