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Group Health Insurance for SMEs

Cover for a small team, from three employees upward, without the runaround.

At this size you are usually the HR department as well as everything else, and group medical is one more thing on a list that never gets shorter. It also has a deadline attached, because visas do not wait.

Group health insurance for a small business is simpler than the market makes it look. Cover starts from as few as three employees. Terms are mostly standard, which means the real decision is which insurer to place it with and at what level, not how to design a bespoke scheme.

Not every insurer wants a small group

This is the part that costs small employers the most time. Some insurers write small groups enthusiastically and price them well. Others accept them reluctantly, load the premium, or decline whole industries without saying why. Working that out by ringing round takes weeks. We already know, which is most of what you are hiring us for at this size.

We place small group cover with insurers including AXA Gulf, SUKOON, Orient and Dubai Insurance, and we put the shortlist in front of you with the differences in plain language rather than a spreadsheet of jargon.

Where small employers usually get caught

Three places. The network, because the cheapest plans use a short hospital list and your staff will find its edges quickly. Maternity, because waiting periods apply and a young team will use it. And the first renewal, which can move sharply if one member had a heavy year, since a small group has nowhere to spread a large claim.

None of these are reasons to buy something expensive. They are reasons to know about them in advance, so the plan you choose is a decision rather than a surprise.

Growing past a small group

Once you pass roughly {{SME_THRESHOLD}} employees the arithmetic changes: your own claims history starts driving your premium and the renewal turns into a negotiation. That is a good problem, and it is covered on group health insurance for mid and large corporates. Growing teams also tend to add group life around this point, because it costs little and it is the benefit staff notice you bothered with.

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Get in touch with the expert advisers at Continental

Send us your headcount, the ages, and the emirate you are licensed in. Your advisor comes back with a short list of insurers who want a group your size, and explains what separates them.

For group cover that suits a small team, talk to us today.

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FAQ

1. What is the minimum number of employees for group cover?

Some insurers write groups from three employees, and a few will look at smaller. Below that, individual plans usually work out better and we will tell you if that is your situation rather than forcing a group scheme that does not suit you.

2. Is group cover cheaper than buying individual plans for each employee?

Often, though not always at very small sizes. Group cover has other advantages that matter more than the premium: one renewal date, one point of contact, simpler administration, and usually easier treatment of pre-existing conditions than individual underwriting allows.

3. Can we include the owner and the owner’s family?

Usually yes. Owners, partners and their dependants can normally be included on the company plan, and it is often the tidiest way to arrange it. The rules vary by insurer, so it is worth confirming before you assume it either way.

4. Our team is mostly young and healthy. Should we just buy the cheapest plan?

Sometimes that is genuinely the right call, and we will say so. But check two things first: whether the network includes clinics your team would actually use, and whether anyone is planning a family, because maternity waiting periods make that decision expensive to reverse.

5. How quickly can cover be arranged?

For a straightforward small group we usually come back with compared quotes within a few working days. If you are waiting on visas, tell us the date you are working to and we will work backwards from it.