It has been reported that over 60% of the U.S. population that has health insurance receives their health care coverage through an employer-sponsored group health insurance plan. Although the health insurance regulations may vary considerably from state to state, there are definite advantages to obtaining your health insurance coverage through an employer using large or small business health insurance plans. In fact, many employees will report that the most important benefit offered to them through their job is health insurance. Companies throughout the U.S. spend billions of dollars annually for health insurance, making up the majority of the revenues that are earned by the health insurance companies. In recent years, companies have seen a dramatic increase in the cost of providing health care benefits to their employees. This is primarily due to the rising cost of health care and prescription drugs. Because of these ever increasing insurance premiums, many companies have been forced to reduce the benefits offered to employees under their group health insurance plans. This increases the out-of-pocket expenses that are paid by the employee when they require medical treatment or prescription drugs. Some companies are even requiring their employees to pay a higher share of the monthly premium or requiring them to pay 100% of their dependent premiums. The number of corporations that offer full premium payment for an employee and his dependents are decreasing annually. Benefits for Employer and Employee Many Americans are forced to remain employed by a company solely because of the health coverage offered by that employer due to lack of group medical insurance information or knowledge. This is more commonly the case if an employee depends on the benefits due to a pre-existing condition that might prevent them from obtaining individual health insurance. In many cases, these employees are willing to work for a lesser wage in order to maintain these benefits. They may be able to find employment with another company that offers similar health insurance benefits, but the waiting periods for their pre-existing condition or even just switching health insurance companies may create a risk that they are not willing to take. Companies that offer comprehensive health insurance to their employees typically have a lower turn-over rate in staff because of this dependency on health care coverage. In fact, the two primary reasons that employers offer health insurance are to attract qualified employees and reduce their turn-over rates. Affordable Group Health Insurance Rates & Options Affordable group health insurance rates, in most states, are available to any company that has 2 or more employees. The eligibility requirements may vary geographically and most companies that are applying for large or small group health insurance plans will need to verify the legitimacy of their business operations, however, this is not necessary for the purpose of obtaining health insurance quotes. The number of employees insured under the group health plan may also determine the types of coverage available to the employer, as well as the per-employee premium. Usually, a company with between 2 to 50 employees is classified as a small business and may offer small business health insurance plans. Many companies have thousands of employees and will have health plans customized for them by a health insurance carrier. Many of these customized plans may include additional benefits that would be excluded from standard issue policies normally included in the small business health insurance plans. Some large corporations may choose to self-insure and only use the insurance carrier to administer the health plans and benefits. This is done by placing a sizeable bond with their state and pulling from this account to pay medical claims via the administrating health insurance carrier. In doing so, the company is assuming the risk of major medical claims and acting as the insurer. Most health insurance companies in the U.S. will have three classification levels based on the number of enrolled employees on the health plan: 1) small group, 2) mid-size group, or 3) large group. Although the number of employees that are required to fall into a specific category may be determined by the insurance company or by state legislation, there are common standards for these classifications.