Companies who are looking to retain their most valuable employees should consider offering group medical insurance coverage. This is particularly the case if your group has highly skilled employees that are difficult to replace. There may be other tax advantages to offering group health coverage as well, and in some cases, there may actually be penalties for not offering coverage, particularly in the case of large employers with more than 50 full-time employees (or full-time equivalent. See guidelines.)
The cost for group health coverage is generally lower per person than similarly designed individual plans, because the risk is spread across a group of active employees.
Most group health insurers will require that at least two thirds to 75% of full time employees enroll. But in order for the coverage to be attractive enough for that many employees to want to enroll, most employers will want to contribute significantly more than the 50% minimum contribution required towards their employees’ premiums.
