At McCarthy Stevenot Agency, Inc., we have over 20 years of experience serving the needs of small business clients. We are particularly focused on small group health insurance, and we are the broker for hundreds of small businesses in the greater Cincinnati area.

Complete and return a Preliminary Group Health Insurance Quote Request Form – Click Here!

What makes us different from other brokers?

Often we hear prospective new clients say that all brokers “quote the same companies,” so what difference does it make which broker you use? Our answer by way of analogy is that though many contractors can shop at the same lumber yard, you’ll see substantial differences in the houses they build for their clients!

One thing that makes us different from our competition is our many years of experience in – and our focus on – small group health insurance. We have a familiarity with the carriers and the plans available in the greater Cincinnati area market that enables us to quickly engage and make impactful recommendations for clients than would otherwise be the case.

Further, our staff is made up of extremely experienced small group health insurance professionals.  Most of us have decades of experience working in the small group health insurance arena. We know the carriers. We know the product and the service channels at the carriers. And, importantly, the carriers know us. This makes our agency a formidable representative to have on your side.

Seeing a difference in customer service.

In contrast to less experienced competition, we are able to quickly resolve many service issues because we know where to call and who to call for help. We have dealt with most common small group health insurance service issues again and again over time. Therefore, we aren’t reinventing the wheel when a client calls us for help.  Because we have handled many similar service requests from other clients in the past, this helps shorten our service response times.

What type of group health insurance is right for your company?

Small group health insurance plans today take many forms. Currently, PPO Plans (Preferred Provider Organization Plans) and HSA Plans (Health Savings Account Plans) are the most popular options for small employers. In some cases, it may be possible to offer a dual option in which employees may select from multiple benefit options.

With a PPO plan, there is an opportunity to access both in an and out of network care. Network benefits are reimbursed at a higher level than non-network benefits. Most PPO plans today no longer require a referral from a primary care physician in order to see a specialist. A new trend in PPO plans is to offer a “split-copay.” Split copays provide a lower copay (i.e. $25) to see a primary care physician while the copay to see a specialist may be higher (i.e. $40). This simple option can lead to a favorable premium savings for groups and their employees.

PPO plans also work nicely with HRAs (Health Reimbursement Agreements). HRA plans can provide an employer-paid reimbursement for medical expenses that typically dovetails with a higher deductible health plan. In such case, the employer adds a layer of benefit reimbursement underneath a high deductible amount. Assuming claim utilization remains relatively low, it provides the employer the opportunity to achieve some premium savings.

Learn ways to lower your group health insurance premiums FAST!

We have a sign-up box for group administrators (see the upper right column on this page) that provides access to a free report (actually a five email series) on ways to lower group health premiums. Please feel free to sign up for this series! Many of the ideas discussed do not require switching health insurance carriers and, instead, involve simple structural changes to a group health plans that can make a big difference in health insurance premium savings. The split-copay idea discussed above is one such example.

The best way to get a closer look at how we approach group health insurance is to request preliminary quotes from our agency. Click on this link to access a Preliminary Group Health Insurance Quote Request Form. Complete and return the form by fax (513-891-3088) or mail (McCarthy Stevenot Agency, Inc. 10921 Reed Hartman Hwy, Ste. 310 Cincinnati, OH 45242).

Please call our office at 513-891-9888, if you have any questions.

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Filed under: Health Insurance Buyer's Guides

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