Open Enrollment 101: How does a business shop for health insurance?

This is the third part in our series entitled Open Enrollment 101. Thank you for joining us to learn how a group shops for health insurance.

As open enrollment draws near, you may be wondering what does the sales process look like when wanting to purchase health insurance? It may have been a few years since you took a look at new products in the market. Sadly, you may be that group who’s agent rushes in three days before your renewal is effective and is told to just sign your renewal because trust me it is the best rate out there.

If you are any of those groups, here is a simple look at how a group shops for health insurance:

Your agent will present your renewal and renewal options and have a conversation about your benefit goals.
Your agent should provide you with “street rate” options for eligible underwritten plans or ACA carrier alternatives.
If underwritten rates are favorable you and your employees will complete Formfire.
Formfire applications are submitted to carrier underwriting for rates.
Compare quotes and either return to current carrier for rate relief or change to another carrier.
Complete renewal or enrollment process

The amount of time it takes to navigate this process is usually a month, however, during peak times of the year the amount of time from start to finish can double or even triple depending on volume at the carrier level. There are a few things that you can do as the employer to help ensure you have a successful benefit shop.