Group Health Insurance for Washington Employers

What group health insurance does for your business

A group health plan is usually the single benefit that decides whether a good candidate accepts your offer, and whether a good employee stays. It also tends to be the second-largest line on a small employer’s budget after payroll, which is why the plan you pick and the way you fund it matter as much as the carrier name on the card.

Washington Insurance Brokers works with employers across the state to design a plan that fits both sides of that equation: coverage your team will actually use, at a cost you can renew next year without a painful conversation.

Small-group plans for 1–50 employees are pooled statewide. Premiums can vary by age, area and family size, but not by health history or gender, and adult rates stay within a 3-to-1 age range. Plans bought through an association, such as the BIAW Health Insurance Program, aren’t subject to those small-group rating rules, so it’s worth comparing both before you renew. See BIAW health insurance alternatives.

Washington Insurance Brokers is an independent broker, not affiliated with or endorsed by BIAW, its local associations, its administrators, or its insurers.

Who we work with

Our practice is built around employers with roughly 5 to 500 employees. That is the size range where an independent broker makes the most difference, because you are large enough to have real options and lean enough that benefits are rarely anyone’s only job.

• Businesses offering group coverage for the first time
• Employers who have not shopped their plan in two or more years
• Companies facing a renewal increase they were not expecting
• Employers adding a second location or crossing a headcount threshold

Can a one-person business get a group plan?

We hear this often from owner-only companies and husband-and-wife businesses. In Washington, a small-group plan needs at least one common-law employee enrolled, which in practice means someone paid through payroll on a W-2. How your business files its taxes decides whether the owner counts.

• Sole proprietor or single-member LLC with no employees: not eligible for small group, so individual coverage is the route
• S corporation or C corporation owner paid on a W-2: often eligible as a group of one
• Owner plus spouse on payroll: carriers differ, so we confirm before you change payroll
• Owner plus one W-2 employee who isn’t a spouse: eligible, subject to contribution and participation rules

Groups of one or two also send tax and payroll records, and some carriers want them 60 days before the start date. Read Can a one-person business get group health insurance in Washington? for the documents and deadlines by carrier.

We are carrier neutral

We are not captive to any one insurer. We quote Premera, Regence, Kaiser Permanente and the other carriers active in Washington, and we present them side by side, including the parts that are easy to gloss over: network breadth, referral rules, prescription tiers, and how the deductible actually behaves for an employee with a chronic condition.

See how the main carriers compare in our Washington small-group carrier guide.

If a fully insured plan is the right answer, we will say so. If your group is healthy enough that a level-funded plan would likely cost less and return unused claims dollars, we will show you that math too.

What it costs to work with us

There is no fee at this time for our agency’s brokerage services. Third-party administrators may charge separate fees for services such as compliance or COBRA administration.

Free Calculators for Employers

Not sure whether your business is required to offer coverage, or whether what you charge employees meets the ACA’s affordability rule? Use these two free tools built for Washington employers.