What goes into the package.
Start with medical, then decide how far the budget stretches. Most employers are surprised how far it goes once voluntary options are on the table.
Group Health
Medical coverage across every major Washington carrier.
Read more →Group Dental
The benefit employees use every year and rate highest per dollar.
Read more →Group Vision
Exams, frames and contacts — inexpensive, and always noticed.
Read more →Group Life & Disability
Income protection that costs a fraction of medical.
Read more →Level-Funded Plans
Fixed monthly cost, capped risk, refunds when claims run low.
Read more →Voluntary Benefits
Employee-paid coverage, often at no cost to the company.
Read more →Benefits are a hiring tool before they are a cost line.
Small employers compete for the same people as the large ones, and rarely on salary alone. A credible benefits package is often the difference between a candidate accepting and a candidate ghosting — and between a good employee staying and a good employee taking a call from a recruiter.
The mistake we see most is treating benefits as a single yes-or-no decision about medical. In practice it is a set of dials: what the company contributes, which plan tiers are offered, whether dental and vision are bundled, and how much of the package employees fund themselves. Turning those dials is where a broker earns their keep.
The second most common mistake is renewing on autopilot. A plan that fit your census three years ago may be badly matched to who works for you now.
From census to enrolled.
Discovery
Current plan, census, budget, and what your employees have been asking for. Roughly an hour of your time.
Market shop
Quotes across Washington carriers with real side-by-side comparisons, including options other brokers skip.
Education & enrollment
We present to your team, answer their questions, and run enrollment on our platform or on paper.
Year-round service
New hires, terminations, claims problems, compliance dates. One licensed contact all year.
What employers ask first.
How many employees do we need to offer group coverage?
Group medical in Washington generally starts at two enrolled employees. Voluntary benefits can start at three. Owner-only businesses fall outside group rules and are handled differently.
How much does the company have to contribute?
Carriers set participation and contribution minimums — commonly a share of the employee-only premium and a minimum percentage of eligible employees enrolled. The exact thresholds vary by carrier and plan, which is one reason shopping the market matters.
Can we offer benefits to some employees and not others?
You can define eligibility classes — full-time versus part-time, waiting periods, job categories — but the rules have to be applied consistently and documented. We help set the classes so they hold up.
What if we already have a broker?
You can change broker of record at any time without changing your plan, carrier or coverage. It is a signed form. We notify the prior broker and the carriers.
When should we start shopping a renewal?
Ninety days before the renewal date is comfortable. Sixty is workable. Thirty means you are taking whatever the carrier offers, which is exactly the position the renewal letter is designed to put you in.
Get your group quoted.
Send your census and current plan summary. We come back with carrier-by-carrier comparisons.