You said you wanted to offer more choices for
employees, and we heard you.
We’ve made a few changes in Kaiser Permanente Washington group medical plan offerings for coverage starting Sept. 1, 2018, or later. The changes are designed to save small groups money while offering greater value.
Two of these changes will have the most impact on small groups.
Employers can offer more options.
Groups with 10 to 50 employees may offer up to 3 plans from any combination of Core network and Access PPO network plans.
Groups will need to make sure at least one employee is enrolled in each offered plan upon new group setup or renewal. As long as one employee is enrolled, the plan will be available to new group members during the contract year. (For coverage starting before Sept. 1, 2018, 3 or 5 employees needed to enroll in each plan, depending on group size.)
Employers can save money and still offer choice.
Groups are required to contribute at least 50% toward employee premiums. This hasn’t changed. However, beginning Sept. 1 it is easier to offer employees a range of plans, now that only one employee is required to enroll per plan.
If a group takes advantage of this change to offer multiple plans, their contribution for any plan will be equivalent to 50% of the least expensive plan offered, regardless of the cost of the other plans. This increases employee choice while saving money for our mutual clients.
Some details to remember:
- All family members must enroll in the same plan; no split families.
- Groups receive a monthly bill for each plan, where applicable.
- Federal regulations require that, to offer group medical coverage, groups must have at least one common law employee. This means there must be at least one employee on the payroll who is not the owner or spouse of the owner.
For more information about the options available to your clients, contact a small group sales team member. It’s our goal to work with you to offer your clients high-quality, affordable health care services, regardless of the size of your group.