Health insurance sold to small businesses and individuals is classified as one of four different levels of coverage: Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum.
This tiered coverage system makes it much simpler to compare plans and find the best option for you and your employees. These categories describe how your employees and the plan can expect to share costs for coverage. Gold or Platinum plans have higher monthly premiums in order to ensure you pay less when you actually need medical coverage. Inversely, Silver or Bronze plans have lower monthly premiums but an individual will face more costly charges when they need medical coverage. These categories describe how your employees and the plan can expect to share costs for coverage.
As an employer, you will choose a plan to offer your employees based on the plans available in your region. And then you will define a percentage that you would like to contribute towards premiums for employee-only coverage. If you choose to offer dependent coverage, you will also define a percentage to contribute to those premiums as well.
Once you’ve decided on the plan and contribution level, you will notify your employees and allow them the opportunity to make decisions on enrollment. To get a better understanding of the levels of coverage available and for help making the choice that works the best for you and your family, Covered California offers in-person, online and phone assistance.