JC Lewis Insurance Services

Insurance Solutions for Arizona Businesses

With almost 7,500,000 residents, Arizona ranks number 14 among the 50 states in terms of population. And Arizona has more than 550,000 small businesses that employ less than 500 workers. The U.S. Small Business Administration estimates that these businesses employ one million workers, representing almost 45 percent of the state’s private workforce.

Arizona also ranks number 4 in the nation for the fastest growing small businesses, according to a 2023 report. The professional, scientific, and technical services sector dominates as the top industry in Arizona. When it comes to the number of local establishments, Arizona has 8,711 small businesses per 100,000 people.

Like almost all other states in the country, smaller companies (those with between 2 and 50 employees) can choose whether to offer health insurance in Arizona. Which means that Arizona small business employees may or may not be offered health insurance through their employer.

J.C. Lewis Insurance Services: Why We Serve Arizona Businesses

Our move into the Arizona group insurance market is a relatively new one but was predicated on decades of experience and knowledge of the industry. Observing significant potential in the market, we recognized the vast opportunities within Arizona. The state harbors a substantial community of small business owners that, we believe, are potentially underserved.

Identifying a substantial opportunity, we were also confident that we could best meet that need. Our agency specializes in delivering top-notch customer service. We perceived, as well, a considerable gap in support for many small businesses lacking the necessary resources.

Because we have a top notch in-house administrative team, we knew that J.C. Lewis would be a great fit.  And it is this understanding that motivated our decision to pursue this opportunity, with the clear aim of catering to these unmet needs.

Another facet of the group insurance market in Arizona that we became aware of is that small business owners in particular were being underserved. While the mid-market and enterprise-level businesses in the state seemed to have no shortage of willing brokers and agents to choose from, those with smaller companies and fewer employees are often left wanting.

An Arizona Business Client Success Story

A recent client based in Arizona initially had a fully funded policy, specifically ACA compliant plans, subject to a three percent higher premium due to mandated benefits and taxes. Upon analysis by J.C. Lewis, their group coverage was transitioned to a balanced funded policy, partly insured by the group itself, with added stop-loss insurance to mitigate significant claims.

These balanced funded policies, though underwritten, factor in the group’s health by assessing certain GRX codes drawn from a database, providing insights into the organization’s health status.

After offering them this balanced funded contract, less than 12 months into the plan, their surplus account exceeded $20,000. Having anticipated a surplus of $15,000 to $20,000 at the end of the 15-month period reflects the remarkable success achieved.

In addition, their premiums lowered significantly to about seven to eight percent compared to the previous year, and they’re likely to receive a substantial refund of approximately $15,000 in cash at the end of their policy period.

It’s truly a win-win situation.

Helping Make Health Coverage Management Easier with Ease®

One of the many ways J.C. Lewis works to make group health coverage simpler for Arizona businesses is with the Ease platform. As the company’s website explains it, “Ease is the #1 rated benefits administration and HR software for SMBs, serving more than 2,000 agencies and over 75,000 businesses that manage benefits and HR for their 3.4 million+ employees.”

J.C. Lewis has partnered with Ease® to facilitate all of our client enrollments. We meet with business owners prior to their renewal, we talk about changes and answer questions, and then we customize each portal to that company’s needs with messaging and related elements, while facilitating all their changes.

Everything is done online and it’s all digital. Utilizing Ease® is good for us, but it’s great for our clients. They send us their new hire information and then they “forget about it”, knowing that everything will be processed quickly and seamlessly. Once it is done, we send them a confirmation with a payroll report after the employee is enrolled and set up in the platform. In other words, this becomes a major set of tasks that our clients are freed from. 

In addition, all of our clients have their own customized portals that we manage for them and keep updated every year with the new plans and new contracts that we have already decided upon in our client intake and renewal meetings.