Group health insurance (GHI) is also known as cooperative care. Group health insurance (not to be confused with individual health insurance) is meant for businesses which employ at least two full time employees. If you’re self employed, or are a business owner with only one full time employee, then you’ll have to look into individual or family health insurance.

Health reform has made group health insurance available in every state on a “to issue”. The pricing of these plans can be extremely varied and is based upon the size of your group and the state that your plan’s provider resides.

In the complicated world of managed care group health insurance offers you a basic coverage plan that can include preventive care as well as dental and eye packages.

For new employees, group health insurance offers very manageable deductibles and decent plans that can cover them immediately upon employment (in most cases). Even signing up for them is easy being able to make a phone call or logon into the internet. It creates a foundation to build upon by offering cheap, basic coverage that the individual can add on to as they feel like it in order to meet their needs.

As a business you have to decide what is best for your bottom line and in group health insurance that bottom line can become expensive. As such you have to decide between managed care and fee-for-service.

In the realm of managed care the group health insurance is based on contracts and agreements with doctors, hospitals and other care providers. In the end they’re designed to offer reduced rates to you and your employees. They’re also known as the dreaded HMO.

Managed care may reduce your expenses but that’s only if you use their list of approved vendors. If you stray from it then you’re usually responsible for the entire bill. Your employees are forced to choose a primary physician from the list and that is the person they must go to first. HMO group health insurance is chiefly preferred by large companies due to the less expensiveness of the plans. Some of the managed care providers will provide your employees the option of paying extra money to choose outside the network.

Indemnity plans or fee-for-service group health insurance allows your employees to choose providers they see. This lets them have complete control over their physician choices and provides them with a wide range of options that can even include specialists.

As with any insurance choosing the right group health insurance plan is important. Not just for you, but your employees. Comparison shop and make deals if you can and get the biggest bang for your buck.