Hot & Trending Benefits
What’s Hot, Popular & Trending in Georgia Group Medical programs for “2023”?
Updated 03/31/2023 – Prepared by Tim McGinn, SBCS, CSFS, PHIAS, FHIAS – Financial Analyst, Health Planning Associates, LLC
In Georgia the “Anthem Georgia Chamber Program” continues to attract a lot of small group medical business with their rich plan designs, attractive employer pricing, low renewals and broad open access network. A similar program Anthem recently introduced called the “Georgia Farm Program” (geared towards SIC codes in the agriculture / farming sector) has been expanding and gaining traction as well.
In January of 2023 Anthem announced an expansion of the Anthem Small Group Chamber program to now include large employers with 51 to 99 employees. We are pleased with this new development and believe it will give our employers just another great renewal option with even more plan choices.
We are also seeing an employer interest in moving towards what over 75% of larger employers (100+ Employees) are using; Self-Funded. However, the large carriers realized that small employers are not interested in large financial risk so they have fully developed a no-risk “Level Self-Funded” platform with fixed rates, no additional liability and sharing of the remaining claims pool in good plan years.
In this small group segment, we have Aetna, Cigna, Humana and United Healthcare all offering excellent Level Self-Funded small employer programs with Aetna & Cigna leading the way in "2022" and we believe this will continue into "2023".
Early in 2023 Humana announced they were leaving the US group medical market much to the surprise of employers and the brokerage community. However, we believe Aetna, Anthem, Cigna and United HealthCare will step forward quickly and absorb that exiting business as it transitions out over the next 24 months.
Below you will find a summary of these popular programs along with some carrier literature on level self funded programs.
If you would like a confidential quote call our Central Georgia office at Tel: 478-471-1220 or click the above button to send a quote request message and a member of our team will reach out to you ASAP.
Anthem Chamber Program
As today’s small businesses are searching for cost-saving health coverage options, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce is addressing this need by offering a new solution that can lead to more rate stability and offers potential savings for groups with 2 to 50 eligible employees. Large employers have been added to this program effective 01/2023 and we are now quoting - please contact your HPA team for a confidential quote at Tel;478-471-1220.
The Georgia Chamber has teamed up with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Anthem) to administer the Georgia Chamber SMART Plan (SMART). This plan allows smaller employers to join together to share in the overall claims risk. By being part of a larger, self-funded pool, employers have financial protection backed by Anthem.
In addition to financial protection, this innovative alternative offers:
- Competitive Rates
- Predictable, fixed monthly payments
- Flexibility in Choice of 17 different group medical benefit plans
- Anthem’s Broad Open Access POS Network and Essential Rx
- Specialty products, including dental, vision, life, optional life and disability plans, that are offered at discounted rates to employers participating in the Georgia Chamber SMART Plan.
Click here for more information on the Anthem Chamber Program.
Anthem FARM Program
FARM, a great new health coverage plan for small businesses in Georgia
As today’s small businesses are searching for cost-saving health coverage options, the Georgia Farm Bureau (GFB) is addressing this need by offering a new solution that can lead to more rate stability and offers potential savings for groups with at least one enrolled and no more than 50 eligible employees and sole proprietors that fall within a broad range of agricultural SIC codes.
Updated: 04/06/2023 - Anthem Farm program announced today the paln is expanding to include all Standard Industrial Classifications (SIC Codes) in other words all business types will be accepted effective April 15th, 2023. This is also the only small group program in Georgia that will allow small 1 man groups.
The GFB has teamed up with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Anthem) to administer the Georgia FARM Plan (FARM). This plan allows employers to join together to share in the overall claims risk. By being part of a larger, alternative funded pool, employers have financial protection backed by Anthem.
In addition to financial protection, this innovative alternative offers:
- Competitive rates
- Predictable, fixed monthly payments
- Flexibility in choice of benefit plans
- Access to one of the largest specialty networks nationally – Anthem’s broad Open Access POS network and Essential Rx Formulary (drug list)
- To top it off, specialty products, including dental, vision, life and disability plans, are also offered at discounted rates to employers participating in the Georgia FARM Plan.
Click here to learn more about the Anthem FARM Program.
Below you will find a summary of these programs along with some carrier literature.