When you talk to AI, especially in a back-and-forth conversation, something fundamentally different happens than with traditional brainstorming. You can start with a rough, half-formed idea — something you barely know how to articulate — and the AI doesn’t just respond to the words you say. It listens for what you’re actually getting at. It … Read more
Imagine you were a prospector, someone who hunts for gold. Not the romanticized version from movies — but the practical reality. You head out into the field, day after day, because you know something important: There’s gold out there, and you’re very likely to find it. Not every trip produces a life-changing strike.But almost every … Read more
The one idea: If FMLA applies, the employer must keep paying its normal share of the premium and keep coverage identical during leave. The employee still owes their share, collected one of three ways. When someone goes out on FMLA, employers ask the same first question: do we still have to pay our part of … Read more
The one idea: When a group is too small for COBRA, state “mini-COBRA” continuation still applies, and because states like Texas publish no model notices, the safest move is to outsource it to a TPA. Most agents know COBRA cold. But once a fully insured group drops below the 20-employee COBRA threshold, it usually falls … Read more
The one idea: Texas’s SB 896 doubles the newborn-enrollment window from 31 to 60 days, but only for fully insured plans renewing on or after 1/1/2026. Self-insured ERISA plans still follow the 30-day HIPAA floor. When a baby arrives, parents scramble to add them to coverage. In Texas, that scramble just got more forgiving, for … Read more
The one idea: If an employer has 20 or more employees, its group plan pays before Medicare. Get this backwards and Medicare can claw the money back years later. Medicare’s rules about who pays first, the group plan or Medicare, aren’t just confusing. They can be expensive if you get them wrong. The 20-employee threshold … Read more
The one idea: If you own more than one business, the IRS may combine them. A 35-employee company plus a 20-employee company can together become a 55-employee Applicable Large Employer, subject to the ACA mandate. Here’s a trap that catches small-business owners: you own a landscaping company with 35 employees and a nursery with 20. … Read more
The one idea: A home-care agency with hundreds of caregivers might not owe ACA coverage at all, if the client or family receiving care (not the agency) is the common-law employer. When the ACA passed, low-margin industries with lots of workers worried about the employer mandate. The law created no industry carve-outs, but regulators flagged … Read more
This is an FAQ! Perhaps one of most frequently asked (and most frequently mis-answered) questions that agents receive from employer clients is whether they can offer coverage to just certain employees, or vary their benefits offering and/or employer contribution among classes of employees. There are various versions of this question, but it really boils down … Read more
When it comes to quoting small group health plans, brokers don’t just need accurate numbers—they need a way to present those numbers clearly. And that’s where the format of your spreadsheet matters more than you think. Some brokers swear by horizontal layouts (where each plan is a column). Others prefer vertical formats (where plans run … Read more