How to Lower Group Health Insurance Premiums

Every insurance agent across America has been asked by an employer, “How do I lower my group’s health insurance premium?” This question is very fair considering the rise in health insurance premiums over the years. However, the real question being asked is, “How do I lower my group’s health insurance premium without sacrificing benefits?” Because if you are just trying to lower the premium, you could do a handful of things at renewal:

• Switch to a plan with a high maximum out of pocket (MOOP)
• Choose a plan that doesn’t cover doctor office visits or prescription drugs until the MOOP is met
• Choose a carrier with lower rates even though you may sacrifice network availability
• Drop coverage completely if you are a small employer

The problem with most of these suggestions is, even though you would be lowering the premium, the quality of healthcare employees receive would be drastically reduced. Statistics show the by-product of lower quality health insurance plans is not only demotivating but also opens the employer to losing quality employees to an employer offering better care.

A Modern-Day Solution to Affordable Health Insurance for Groups

Supplemental health insurance is something that has taken off over the last decade. These plans allow you to lower group health insurance premiums, without sacrificing benefits. These plans are structured several different ways. In this article, we will cover how the Premium Saver plan works because it is considered the Cadillac of gap plans in the market.

How the Premium Saver Plan Lowers Health Insurance Premiums

Let’s say an employer has a health insurance plan with a $300 deductible with 20% coinsurance to $700. In this example, the employee has a $300 deductible and $700 of coinsurance totaling $1,000 maximum out of pocket until the health insurance takes over 100%.

A creative strategy in the market is to obtain a quote for a high deductible plan, with a deductible of $5,000, $6,850, or higher, depending on your market. This will reduce the major medical plan’s premium drastically. In some cases, we have seen insurance premiums drop up to 40%. Now, with the savings from the high deductible plan, the employer can purchase the Premium Saver plan to fill in the gap between this new high deductible plan and the original plan. The example looks like this:

New Plan Design
$5,000 Major Medical Deductible
$300 Premium Saver Deductible
0% Coinsurance to $0
Premium Saver Benefit Amount $4,700
Employee Maximum Out of Pocket is reduced to $300

In this example, the employee’s out-of-pocket was reduced from $1000 to $300. Now, the odds of saving 10% to 15% on the group’s overall health insurance premium is much higher.

If you are looking to lower insurance premiums, the Premium Saver is the solution to your problem. You can structure this plan in numerous ways and it is available in most of the United States. All you need to do is contact your Territory Manager or complete this form and one of our Territory Managers will contact you. They will quickly provide you with a quote on your group to see a real-world example of how the Premium Saver works.