Do you run a small business? Do you employ between 2 and 50 people in your company? With as few as two employees, you may qualify for a group dental or health insurance plan. The cost of health insurance for a small business varies greatly depending on the number of employee’s in your company, the coverage you want to provide and your insurance provider.

Small business dental and health insurance has many benefits. Besides providing medical care for yourself and your employees, a group insurance plan helps spread the financial risk between all the members. Most of the time, this will mean lower premiums and better coverage for the individuals in the group.

Even better, group insurance has tax advantages too. Employer contributions to a small business dental and health insurance plan are generally 100% tax deductible for the employer and employees will likely save on payroll taxes. Everyone wins!

How does this group insurance work? A small business dental or health insurance plan provides its members with a set policy coverage. Individual employees may be able to add policy riders and additional coverage to fit their specific needs, but the basic policy format will remain the same for everyone in the group.

Remember that group health or dental insurance cannot be a requirement for employees. However, you may have to maintain a minimum number of participants in order to guarantee coverage. This is where getting the feedback of your employees regarding their preference can really help in maintaining the plan.

Will you company be able to afford this? Well, group dental or health insurance is less expensive than the cost of a bunch of individual policies added up, but it’s not cheap. As the employer, you will have to be prepared to pay some percentage of an employee’s premium. This could be as high as 50%. You will have to decide what your business can afford, and what is required to attract and keep good employees.