Use your facts
The calculator takes your income, state, entity and current cost.
One employee
Small business health coverage when the business has one employee
You searched this because you tried. You went looking for group coverage for your company, you described it honestly, and somewhere in the process you were told you do not have enough people.
You are not confused about what you need. You have been told no, and you want to know whether there is a version of this that works.
The decline
What you ran into.
Group health plans are built around a group. Carriers and most PEOs set a minimum headcount, and a company where the only employee is the owner falls under it. Some will not count a working owner as an employee at all.
The decline usually happens before anyone looks at your revenue, your years trading or how much you already pay. It is a rule applied at the front door.
The difference
What actually changes the answer.
Co-employment changes who the employer of record is for benefits. The owner becomes a W-2 employee of the co-employer, and coverage comes from an established group master plan rather than a plan written for your company alone. The master plan already has the headcount. You are joining something rather than forming something.
That is why the answer here can differ from the answer you already received elsewhere.
It is not automatic. The licensed provider decides, and no one should tell you otherwise before your file has been reviewed.
Calculator first
Whether it is worth applying.
Remove what does not fit
It does the arithmetic and removes what you do not qualify for.
Stop if your current path wins
If your current coverage is better, it says so and you have lost ten minutes instead of another month.
Group access
What group coverage gets you.
A group-plan path. Specialists without a referral, a network that works in any state, and the kind of provider list an individual HMO does not offer.
If you later add a real employee, you are already inside a structure built for that.
Dental, vision, a Vestwell retirement plan and workers compensation can all run through it too. Optional, and none of it needed to see your health number.
For the network details, read the Group-plan access page.
Objections
The questions after a headcount decline.
I was already declined. Why would this be different?
Because the thing that declined you was a headcount rule at a company that writes its own plans. Joining an existing master plan is a different question.
It is me and one contractor.
Contractors are counted differently from employees. Enter the real position.
It is me and my spouse.
Common, and it changes the arithmetic. Enter it as it is.
I am about to hire. Should I wait?
No reason to. Run the number now and you will know what hiring does to it.
FAQ
One-employee coverage questions.
You have already been told no once. Find out whether that was the whole answer.