Health Insurance

Robert Young · October 25th, 2011, 01:08 PM

Hi, the end of year is quickly approaching. This is the time of year I review our options for many of the services we pay for .. and now I would like your opinion on health insurance. Having provided insurance for our employees for nearly 11 years now I can tell you it is our second largest expense after payroll itself and seems to be going up every third year or so. Currently we are with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas and are due for a 20% increase according to the paperwork I have recently received. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

nametags · October 26th, 2011, 09:26 AM

I'm not sure how Texas works, but, in Kentucky, we've done this.

We contacted the state insurance commission, and requested a listing of all licensed and approved health insurance vendors authorized to do business in the state. THey had it both on hard copy to print, and for download as well.

We did a blanket email to all the vendors, specifying what we were looking for, insurance wise, and sent it out with a deadline date to submit their quotes.

It worked great! We got over 150 quotes from various vendors across the state, and went through and chose about 20 we liked, and then did a follow up email and quote request.

It worked fine, and we ended up with a good plan. It took about 6 weeks to do from start to finish.

Now we do this every 2 years.

Keep in mind you'll get bids from the carriers themselves, like BC/BS, and also independent insurance agencies that sell the same insurance through a different carrier or plan. Don't disregard the small independents,,,they can have some very good deals.

We have 26 employees, and it worked good for us.

And no, this isn't our embroidery business, it's another family business we're in.

Good luck!

Robert Young · October 27th, 2011, 10:35 AM

thank you, I will look into all this for sure! We have not raised our prices since 2001, yet everything else associated with running a business cannot be said to have done the same.

Gilligan · October 27th, 2011, 12:29 PM

Nametags... this works with buying a car also... send out what you want and say that you are sending it out to all the other dealers and whoever gets you the lowest price for what you are looking for gets the sale.

nametags · November 2nd, 2011, 08:58 AM

Yes, I've bought the past 4 vehicles this way. It works great. Bottom line price up front, no salespeople, no dealer visits, no "let me talk to the boss" comments.

Health insurance issues changes almost daily now,,,,,but this works, just takes a little longer.