What Is a Group Health Insurance Plan?
Group Insurance health plans provide coverage to a group of members, usually comprised of company employees or members of an organization. Group health members usually receive insurance at a reduced cost because the insurer’s risk is spread across a group of policyholders. There are plans such as these in both the US & Canada
How Group Health Insurance Works
Group health insurance plans are purchased by companies and organizations, and then offered to its members or employees. Plans can only be purchased by groups, which means individuals cannot purchase coverage through these plans. Plans usually require at least 70% participation in the plan to be valid. Because of the many differences—insurers, plan types, costs, and terms and conditions—between plans, no two are ever the same.
Group plans cannot be purchased by individuals and require at least 70%
participation by group members. Once the organization chooses a plan, group members are given the option to accept or decline coverage. In certain areas, plans may come in tiers, where insured parties have the option of taking basic coverage or advanced insurance with add-ons. The premiums are split between the organization and its members based on the plan. Health insurance coverage may also be extended to the immediate family and/or other dependents of group members for an extra cost.
The cost of group health insurance is usually much lower than individual plans because the risk is spread across a higher number of people. Simply put, this type of insurance is cheaper and more affordable than individual plans available on the market because there are more people who buy into the plan.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Group members receive insurance at a reduced cost because the insurer’s risk is spread across a group of policyholders.
- Plans usually require at least 70% participation in the plan to be valid.
- Premiums are split between the organization and its members, and coverage may be extended to members & family and/or other dependents for an extra cost.
History of Group Health Insurance
Group health insurance in the United States has evolved during the 20th century. The idea of collective coverage first entered into public discussion during World In the 1920s, healthcare costs increased to the point that they exceeded most consumers’ ability to pay.
The Great Depression exacerbated this problem dramatically, but resistance from the American Medical Association and the life insurance industry defeated several efforts to establish any form of a national health insurance system. This opposition would remain strong into the 21st century.
Employer-sponsored group health insurance plans first emerged in the 1940s as a way for employers to attract employees when wartime legislation mandated flattened wages. This was a popular tax-free benefit which employers continued to offer after the war’s end, but it failed to address the needs of retirees and other non-working adults. Federal efforts to provide coverage to those groups led to the Social Security Amendments of 1965,
Benefits of a Group Health Insurance Plan
The primary advantage of a group plan is that it spreads risk across a pool of insured individuals. This benefits the group members by keeping premiums low, and insurers can better manage risk when they have a clearer idea of who they are covering. in which providers contract with insurers to provide care to members. The HMO model tends to keep costs low, at the cost of restrictions on the flexibility of care afforded to individuals. Preferred provider organizations (PPOs) offer the patient greater choice of doctors and easier access to specialists but tend to charge higher premiums than HMOs.
The vast majority of group health insurance plans are employer-sponsored benefit plans. It is possible, however, to purchase group coverage through an association or other organizations. Examples of such plans include those offered by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the Freelancers Union, and wholesale membership clubs.
Special Considerations
Not everyone is covered by a group health insurance plan. For many decades, these uninsured people were forced to bear the cost of healthcare on their own. But that has changed.
Government-sponsored health plans continue to provide care to those left out of employer-sponsored group health insurance plans. As national health expenditures have climbed past 15% of gross domestic product (GDP), substituted a nationwide mandate that each taxpayer join a group plan for the sort of single-payer solution that has faced stiff opposition since the 1930s. According to government data, roughly 20 million Americans are taking advantage of health insurance under the ACA, according to the most recent set of numbers from 2018.
Under the Obama administration, people who remained uninsured under the ACA were required to pay a health insurance mandate. This was repealed by the Trump administration, which stated it penalized people unnecessarily.