- Premium amount of small business health insurance can’t be changed on basis of size or health of group.
- To be eligible for group health insurance plans, it is necessary to enroll 75% of group size and pay 50% of premium.
- Except owner or spouse, minimum one person should be on payroll for half of previous calendar year.

Some carriers have special offers for participation requirements.
- Employers can choose whether they want to provide insurance to part time employees working below 30 hours weekly. They can also open a health reimbursement account for part time employees.
- Group health plans offer extensive range of PPO’s, HSA’s, HMO’s and HRA’s which makes them expensive.
- Employer’s can choose the small group insurance amount payment through plan’s percentage or dollar amount.
- The California small business health insurance market share is grabbed by few like Blue Shield of California, Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, PacifiCare, Covered California, and Health Net.
- We offer the best standardized price and comprehensive benefits.
- Any medical plans modification can be done within 30 days.
- Monthly contract is offered keeping it short and simple for small business owners.

ACA Health Law Changes on Group Market
- Standardized plans with Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels are available.
- Group size up to 100 employees.
- Group Tax Credits available and you can check the availability on our website.
- There are penalties if health insurance is denied on behalf of size of company.
- Penalties are imposed for individual/family plans if you are paying on behalf of your employees.
Tax Credit Options in California
A tax credit can be paid if you have minimum 25 full-time employees with an average salary of $50,000 or less yearly. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)offers tax credit to small organizations for covering cost of group health insurance.
50% of the premiums is reimbursed for small businesses under vision and dental insurance. Tax-exempt organizations can avail credit up to 35% of their premium expenses.
*Some states offer tax credit only to Qualifying Health Plans (QHPs).
Small businesses paying average wages of $25,000 or less and a minimum of 10 full-time employees can avail full credit. The credit amount keeps on getting reduced for small business employers that have employees with higher wages. Conditions to qualify are based on full-time employees excluding part time workers. Part-timers can qualify for tax credit for greater than 25 individuals also.

Looking to purchase group health insurance in California?
California health insurance companies for individuals, families and small businesses are listed below.
- Oscar
- Blue Shield of California
- Cigna + Oscar
- Kaiser Permanente
- Anthem BlueCross
- UnitedHealthcare
- Covered California
You can also check out Covered California, which provides a marketplace for health plan options in California under PPACA regulation. Individual employees as well as small business employers can buy insurance at subsidized premiums under Obama care. Get a quick overview of all small group plans at no additional cost.
Important Points Regarding ACA (Affordable Care Act) and Small Business Health Insurance
Change of Rates for Small Group Medical Insurance after ACA
Prior to 2014, insurance plan rates were decided as per the employee’s age range. Thus, a fixed rate was selected for all age groups to cover the health care expenses. Similarly, age of spouse, number of dependents and children didn’t matter for selecting insurance rate. The group plan rate was same for every other dependent.
Now, its no longer the same after the Obama Care and Covered California plans. The health care plans premium rate is now calculated differently as per the age of individual, their spouse and children. Get the best health plan as per your household size.
Also, ACA removed the clause for checking pre existing medical conditions to decide the group health plan premium amount. Thus, the health benefits premium are now in a broad range of +-10%with respect to the standard premium rate in California. This has eliminated “Risk Adjustment Factor”. Now, same rate is offered irrespective of health conditions and the insurance plan pays for all medical expenses.

Metallic Level Plans and Standardized Benefits for Comparing Group Plan Benefits
To make health insurance less complicated and easy to understand, an AI-based computation system is used for comparing the coverage options. It tells you about the health benefits of the plan and percentage of money paid for expensive doctors visit and hospitalizations. Employees access the HMO plan and understand the other benefits before opting for the plan.
You get the “actuarial value” (AV) from the insurance company. Next the plans are sorted into different categories, They are:
- Platinum Plan
- Gold Plan
- Silver Plan
- Bronze Plan
The Platinum plans has the highest pay rate ( up to 90%) whereas the bronze plans cover at least 60% of the cost. The ACA doesn’t consider plans covering anything less than 60% of hospitalization expenses or excludes expensive doctors.
Affordable Doctor Visits and In-Network Hospitals for Reducing the Health Insurance Plans Cost
Health care costs vary from hospital to hospital. A few doctors who are highly speciated and having more than 30 years of experience charge more, whereas a primary care physician will charge less. Employees can save their out of pocket costs by selecting a group health plan policy which excludes doctors and medical care facilities which charge a lot. Don’t go for small group health insurance plan with higher deductibles even if the premium is for little contribution only.
So, always choose a “narrow” or “medium” provider for your health plan and try to spend less for the “full” network. United Health Care and Aetna are the insurance companies that offers small, medium or large health plans simultaneously to employees. Also, Blue Shield and Kaiser provide only single network. Insurance company like Health Net provides either full networks or narrow networks.
Choose only those health insurance companies whose insurance plan pays maximum medical expenses and patient pays the least. Check out Covered California for such plans.
Small Business Owners offering Variety of Health Plan Options
Health insurance needs vary from person to person. Thus, small employers can choose a health plan to meet employees needs and budget. Most employers provide medical insurance plan such as PPO or HMO; it can be from 4 different metal tiers like Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Some employees need catastrophic coverage while others want cost effective coverage .
Many employers provide single HMO and PPO plans while others may offer 2-5 different group health plans and employee can choose the best one. But, insurance companies also offer greater than 20 medical insurance plans but the high cost is controlled by the small business employer.

Frequently Asked Questions About Health Insurance And Employee Benefit Plans in California
Here are brief answers to some frequently asked questions about California health insurance.