3 Steps for Acquiring An Accurate Insurance Quote for Your Company

When it comes to getting the most accurate insurance quote for your business, it is imperative that brokers get the most accurate information up front as possible. The more accurate the information your company provides, the more accurate the rates will be.

Step 1: Basic employee information

Many insurance quotes will begin with a completed group census, which provides an employee benefits company with a picture of the employee make up of your business. Since underwriters look at total participation, you are typically asked to include all employees in your census, not just the ones that are currently on the benefits.

Be prepared for benefits consultants by providing the following:

· All full-time and part-time employees: depending on your group size, you may be bordering the line as a large group employer. With the newer affordable care act guidelines, part time employees are a factor in determining your group size.

· Dates of birth for all dependents that will likely be enrolling in the plan (including spouses and children): this is now a requirement for all insurance carriers and is one of the primary factors for the cost of insurance

· Employee hire date, weekly hours worked, and zip code

Step 2: Benefit Package Summary

Providing a copy of your current benefit package summary is an extremely helpful tool for insurance consultants to understand the benefits that you are currently on. Unfortunately, simply stating that you have a $2000 deductible still misses other important factors which can impact rating. Examples of these factors include: out of pocket maximums, coinsurance and how the benefit design pays for services, such as lab and x-rays.

Step 3: Final Enrollment

The final step for determining rates for any insurance plan are determined at the time of final enrollment. This means that if the census data you provide your benefits consultants during the quoting process changed, it can also have an impact on your rates as well. Let’s use an example for how final enrollment works. When your group was first quoted, you listed that you had 10 employees and that group had an average age of 42. When the final enrollment was received by the carrier, two of the younger employees chose to waive coverage and, subsequently, the average age now became 48 years old. As a result of this change, your groups rates may go up anywhere from 5-12%.

It is important to note that this process works the other way as well, but by providing accurate census data up front, this will allow for a more accurate rate quote.

Ready to acquire an accurate insurance quote for your business? Contact the team at get-benefits today!