Providing health benefits is one of the most meaningful decisions a small employer makes. We're here to help you understand your options — clearly, honestly, and without the sales pitch.
When a small employer offers health coverage, they're telling their team: you matter here. That message translates directly into loyalty, productivity, and the ability to attract people who have choices about where they work.
For many employees — especially those with families — health coverage is the single most important factor in deciding whether to join, stay, or leave a job. Small employers who understand this hold a real competitive advantage over those who don't.
The good news: providing coverage doesn't have to be as expensive or complicated as it's often made to seem. The landscape has changed significantly in recent years, and small employers today have access to structures that weren't available a decade ago — including approaches that can actually return money at the end of the year when claims are low.
Level funding has quietly become one of the most compelling options available to small employers — and one of the least understood. It sits between traditional fully-insured coverage and large-employer self-funding, and it brings some of the best features of both.
With a level-funded plan, your monthly cost is fixed and predictable — just like traditional insurance. But underneath that fixed payment, your employees' actual claims are being tracked. If claims come in lower than projected, you may receive a refund at the end of the plan year.
This structure rewards healthy groups. And for small employers who have historically subsidized sicker, larger groups through community-rated insurance pools, it's a meaningful shift in how risk and reward are allocated.
You pay a fixed amount each month. No surprise invoices mid-year, no fluctuating premiums based on others' claims.
Catastrophic claims are covered by stop-loss insurance. Your exposure is capped — you're not betting the business on one bad year.
When your group's claims are lower than the funded amount, the surplus may be returned to you — not kept by the carrier.
Unlike fully-insured plans, level funding gives employers visibility into aggregate claims data — useful for plan design decisions.
Groups of 2 to 100 employees who are relatively healthy, cost-conscious, and interested in more transparency than traditional insurance offers.
In traditional insurance, unused premium stays with the carrier. In level funding, your group's good health years can work in your favor.
Not all level-funded products are equal. Understanding stop-loss attachment points, claims run-out provisions, and carrier financial strength matters.
In a market where small businesses compete against large companies for talent, health coverage narrows the gap. Candidates notice — and so do the employees already on your team.
Replacing an employee typically costs 50–200% of their annual salary. Health benefits are one of the most cost-effective retention tools available to a small employer.
Employer-paid costs of your health benefit plan are generally deductible as a business expense. In addition, employee contributions are eligible for a Section 125 Plan, allowing their contributions on a pre-tax basis.
Employees with health coverage are more likely to use preventive care — catching and managing health issues before they become serious, costly, or disruptive to your business.
Most of the health insurance industry is designed around large employers. The products, the consultants, the attention — it flows toward groups with hundreds or thousands of employees.
Small employers — the restaurant owner with 12 staff, the CPA firm with 8 accountants, the contractor with 25 field employees — are left to navigate a complicated market with limited guidance and a fraction of the leverage.
We exist to change that. SmallGroupHealthPlan.com is an educational resource dedicated to helping small employers understand their options, ask better questions, and make decisions that serve their teams and their bottom line.
The Small Group Forum is our annual invitation-only gathering for the leaders who build and fund small group health plans. Each spring, the industry's most knowledgeable voices convene for candid conversation.
We're not here to sell you a plan. If you have questions about small group health coverage — or just want to understand your options better — send us a note and we'll be in touch.
We're an educational resource, not a broker. We won't pressure you or share your information.