How To Shop For Employee Benefit Plans Selecting the best insurance plan for your employees doesn’t have to be an overwhelming experience. Health insurance and employee benefits have changed drastically over the past few years creating many choices in plan designs and price ranges. CAN Insurance Services (CIS) will help you understand your options and assist you in selecting the plan that best suits the needs of your employees and organization. When Should You Shop
Most employee benefits plans, including your health insurance, are on a month to month arrangement with the carriers. So you don’t need to wait until your annual renewal to shop for health, dental, life and other employee benefits plans. If your employees’ needs or your organization’s finances have changed, contact your CIS representative and we’ll help you review your options. Using an Insurance Agent
An insurance agent, such as CAN Insurance Services (CIS), acts as your advocate with the insurance carrier. A good agent is knowledgeable in employee benefits, the marketplace and laws that affect your agency. They will provide you with competitive quotes from all the carriers available to you, as well as assist you in the review and selection of a plan. You should receive ongoing support from your insurance agent including assistance with problematic enrollments, billings and other administrative issues. It doesn’t cost you to use an insurance agent. Because insurance companies are not set up to provide on-going customer service shopping and administrative support to consumers, they pay a fee to insurance agents to provide these services. A handful of employee benefit carriers, such as Kaiser, allow the consumer to enroll directly with them. However, this direct access of the carrier doesn’t save you any money and leaves you without an advocate when such issues as billing and claims issues arise. The Shopping Process
After insuring hundreds of nonprofits for more than twenty years, we’ve developed an expertise shopping and designing plans that best meet the needs of both your employees and organization. This is the process we’ll use in assisting you: 1. We’ll ask you for information about your needs and your staff. We’ll only ask for information that we absolutely need to provide you with plan designs and costs.
We’ll provide you written, comprehensive quotes showing various coverages and premiums.
2. We’ll review the plan options with you. And we’ll help you design a benefits package that provides your employees with the best coverage for the lowest cost.
3. Once you’ve selected one or more plans, our staff will assist you with the entire enrollment process (it’s important not to cancel your current coverage until you receive approval on your application from the new carrier). We’ll review your enrollment materials to make sure they’re complete, submit them to the carrier, and follow-up to make sure the enrollment process is proceeding smoothly.
4. Once your organization is enrolled, you won’t be shuffled from person to person hoping to find someone to help you. Instead, you’ll receive a direct toll-free number to a CIS representative who has been assigned specifically to your agency. They’ll work for you from start to finish, assisting you with questions regarding coverage, claims, billing and enrollment, or any other issues that may arise. 5. Your agency will also have access to a customized, secure portal within CIS’ website. Your insurance information, forms and direct links to your carriers and CIS representative will be at your fingertips. Also available are important resources such as the latest new HR regulations, COBRA and ERISA information and a wealth of other materials vital to the operation of your organization. Join the hundreds of nonprofits that have saved time and money by shopping with CIS!
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