Why Census is Important for Quoting Group Health Insurance

One of the major benefits of group health insurance is that it is often more affordable than individual insurance. Since the risk is spread out over the entire group, each person pays a lower premium than they might have to pay on their own (depending upon the type of policy purchased).

For employees, joining their employer’s group policy also means ensured coverage. People looking for individual policies outside the workplace may have a harder time getting covered or may pay a much higher premium if they have pre-existing conditions. This is not the case with a group policy from the employer.

When an insurance company is determining the rates for your group health insurance policy, it needs to take a few factors into consideration. The size of your company and who is receiving coverage will determine the rates for each member of your group.

Employee Name

The insurance company needs to know who they are insuring!

Number of Dependents

Employees have the option to add dependents, like a spouse or children, to their policy. People with dependents on the policy will pay higher rates than an individual to account for the additional people on the policy.

Date of Birth

As you get older, you pay a slightly higher premium than you did the year before. Premiums will naturally be a little higher if your group is mostly people over the age of 50 versus a group of most people under the age of 30. This is simply because as we age we’re more likely to encounter both major and minor health concerns.

Zip Code

Believe it or not, life expectancy varies not only from country to country but from state to state and even neighborhood to neighborhood. Your living environment partly determines your health: things like good air quality and access to hospitals, healthy food, fitness facilities, and jobs that allow you to provide a healthy lifestyle for yourself and your family can help you avoid getting sick. Not every part of a city has the same access to these types of services, and it impacts the health of the people living in those communities. This is taken into consideration when determining insurance rates.

What is Not Permitted on the Census

Insurance companies are not allowed to ask about your employees’ health status or history. Employees are eligible for your group plan no matter what. They may also not ask about sexual orientation, race, religion, immigration or citizenship status, or an employee’s social security number. All those factors are irrelevant when determining rates for your group.

Why the Census is Important

An insurance company needs a place to start when determining your rates and that’s why the census is so important. Without it, there would be no choice but for an insurance company to use the same (high) rate for everyone. With your group’s basic demographics in mind, the rate is customized to fit your group. With the information provided in the census, an insurance company is then able to give you a quote for individuals, families, and couples.

We can help you put together a group health insurance plan for your employees along with group dental, vision, life, and more. We know that insurance can seem confusing, but we’re here to make it as simple as possible for you so you can provide affordable coverage for your valued workers. We stay up-to-date on all changes in industry rules and regulations so you can be sure your plan meets the requirements. Contact us to learn more about group health insurance and to ask any questions you might have about the census.