The New Year has started, and many employees use this as a chance to make changes to their businesses. Offering insurance can be a big draw to employee recruitment and retention. But, while many employers would like to offer health insurance, they often put off doing so because of the complexity of finding policies and offering variety at reasonable costs.
After one year in the making, QuickBooks Payroll has launched their partnership with Simply Insured to better serve small business owners. This partnership gives small businesses access and a path forward to providing health benefits to employees, with many of the same options and buying incentives available to larger businesses.
Who is Simply Insured?
QuickBooks Payroll has chosen to partner with Simply Insured to provide health benefits for small business employers. Simply Insured is a national online insurance broker. Using Simply Insured you can shop for medical, vision and dental insurance policies. Using a broker such as Simply Insured you get a range of plan carries for both major and minor agencies in an accelerating process. Instead of waiting weeks, quotes are generated in seconds.
Securing QuickBooks Payroll Health Insurance Benefits
Inside QuickBooks Online you can access the get started wizard for health insurance. In order to view the health insurance offering QuickBooks payroll must be turned on. You must also be logged in as the end user not the accountant. Follow these steps to access benefits:
1) From the Navigation Bar select the Workers
2) Select Benefits
3) Click 'Find a plan'
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When you initially access the Health Benefits page (as shown above) you will notice there is a 'preview' of plan costs, this generic dollar amount is based upon your business location which was determined from the zip code within your company information.
Application Process
4) After you select 'Find a plan', Simply Insured begins the process of comparing plans from major carriers to obtain instant quotes on coverages based upon your employees, their zip codes, and their ages. You will have options to narrow-down and filter coverages using the wizard as coverages are identified.
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5) You can filter to narrow down coverage criteria (deductible amounts, specific carrier(s), co-pay requirements, physician networks, monthly premiums, etc.). Based upon the filter choices you will ultimately have several different coverage/plan options available for you and your employees.
Selecting a Quote
6) By selecting a quote additional benefits can be added like Dental and/or Vision.
7) Using the quote an actual plan can be generated by clicking Start Application.
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Once You're Covered - QBO Payroll Deduction Tracking
One of the benefits of this program is the streamlining of the bookkeeping behind premium administration because QuickBooks Payroll can record the deductions for these coverages. You won't need to make manual journal entries to adjust for costs the way you might if you were using an outside insurance policy provider.
The resulting simplicity of quotation, customization of policy option design, and formal coverage cost determinations coupled with the easy bookkeeping, makes this new Health Insurance partnership worth exploring. So be sure to check it out if you are using QuickBooks Online Payroll and looking for Health Insurance options.