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Kuzneski Employee Benefits

You need an Employee Benefits strategy
to attract and retain top talent.

Each of our health insurance and employee benefit programs is custom designed for your growing company, with a painless process to get it done fast and within your budget.
Kuzneski Insurance Group

Is Kuzneski Insurance Group the right fit for your employee benefits?

We're not right for everyone.

Your decision on which employee benefits advisor to hire will be a big factor in the long term success or failure of your employee benefits program. Sometimes firms just don't fit well with each other, due to corporate culture differences, size mismatches, or incompatible approaches to process.  Since we want to set you up for success, we are providing you with answers to questions that, in our experience, will help you make the right decision for your unique company and situation.

If you haven't already done so, please start by reviewing our "Are We A Fit?" page, that will help you more clearly understand our overall approach to insurance and HR. It covers important general topics like the differences between an advisor and a broker, whether we are a good fit for your company size and corporate culture, and our ability to support you during rapid growth. 

Below are our 14 most popular Employee Benefits FAQs that outline our approach to employee benefits. The answers should help you decide whether or not we are the right employee benefits advisor for you. Regardless of your decision, please consider us a resource for you now and in the future.

"What types of Employee Benefits will you offer us?"

It depends on many factors, including: competition for talent in your industry, budget constraints, and administrative capacity.

The richness of the employee benefits you offer will vary based on your situation and goals.  For instance, employees in some industries have low expectations about the quality of benefits or even whether they will receive them at all.  However, if you are competing against Google and Uber to hire machine learning experts, you'll need a high quality employee benefits offering to attract the talent you need.  Regardless of your industry, benefits still have to be affordable, and not put an undue administrative burden on your team.

As part of your Strategic Roadmap, we will help you choose the right employee benefits programs at the right time - so they are effective for your stage of growth and within budget. No funding, no problem! OK, big problem ... but perhaps we can help with that.

Here are typical plans we will consider when working with you to build your Strategic Roadmap:

Group Health Insurance

Group Health Insurance

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Group Dental Insurance

Group Vision Insurance

Group Vision Insurance

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Group Life Insurance

Group Disability Insurance

Group Disability Insurance

Voluntary Employee Benefits

Voluntary Benefits

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Flexible Spending Account (FSA)

QSEHRA / ICHRA

QSEHRA / ICHRA

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Individual & Medicare Plans

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Identity Theft Insurance

"Which insurance companies will be considered for my employee benefits plan?"

Name brands, and a few hidden gems you might not know about.

We have access to dozens of insurance companies, TPAs, and other providers to consider for your plan. Check out a few of the ones we use most frequently. If there is a provider that's important to you that isn't on the list, ask us about them. We probably have (or can gain) access to them, or can suggest an alternative that will be as good or better for your situation.

Medicare disclaimer: we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently, we represent 4 organizations, which offer 119 products in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. 

I like what I'm seeing so far!

How do we get started?

Glad to hear we might be a fit!  If you're ready to move forward:

Schedule Phone Call

 

If you still have more questions to ask, we have more answers.

In fact we love asking and answering questions so much, one of the Fundamentals in our culture is Be Curious(#12).  So keep asking...

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"Will you help us develop a strategy and roadmap for our employee benefits?"

Strategy and roadmaps are built into everything we do.

There's so much for you to think about when you're building your employee benefits programs: "How do all the parts fit together? What had to be done yesterday? What can wait until tomorrow? How will I pay for everything?"

It can be overwhelming at times, and if you're not careful, important things can slip through the cracks!

That's why you need a strategy, and a roadmap to guide you. We will help you:

  • develop a customized Strategic Roadmap for your employee benefits solutions, that's part of your overall Strategic Roadmap.
  • keep everyone on the same page through periodic Strategic Business Reviews.
  • monitor alignment between your C-level team members through our C4i/e assessment tool.
  • bring a board member/investor perspective to your insurance and HR programs.  Check out our leadership team and their experiences.

You'll sleep better at night if you know where you're going and have a roadmap to get there.

"How much do your employee benefits solutions cost? Will they fit my budget?"

We wish it were that simple! The cost varies depending on the employee benefits solutions you need, and also your unique situation.

After we work with you to develop your Strategic Roadmap, we can help you prioritize the various solutions like group health insurance and group life insurance. Then we will stage their rollout to keep within your budget. You don't have to implement all of your benefits at once!

On another note, for most plans of under 100 employees, we are paid commissions directly by the insurance company.  Our fees are built into the various insurance products so we won't have to bill you separately.  It keeps it simple for everyone - and we all like it simple!

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Tom Burke

Kuzneski Insurance Group got us up and running with our group health insurance in 8 days, start to finish...after our current broker, located in my building, failed and said it couldn't be done.  And we are in another state from KIG, and they hadn't dealt with our local Blue Cross plan before.  Is that fast enough for you?

Tom Burke

VP of Finance, Theragen & Neurotech

"We are really short on time. Is your process fast and easy for us?"

We find that most clients have trouble keeping up with us!

Every situation is different, however we are able to move faster than most competitors since we have fine-tuned our processes working with startups - who tend to want things yesterday, but don't send us their paperwork until tomorrow.  But we still love them!

We are Relentless About Improvement (Fundamental #14), so although our process will never be easy-peasy (remember this is the insurance industry), we will make it as painless as possible for you.  If you're into efficiency and automation, then our Payroll & HRIS Solutions are worth exploring.

"How important is it for my advisor (or broker) to understand and participate in the local employee benefits marketplace?"

It's very important! We've been local for 50+ years, so I think we've got it covered.

This question is being raised more frequently due to an influx of offerings that originate from outside of the local area, and a gut feeling that perhaps they come with tradeoffs to consider.

Although national laws and regulations like the ACA can have a big impact on employee benefits like health insurance, there is still a huge "local" factor that impacts them.  Understanding the local provider networks, having relationships with the local insurance companies, and knowing the typical plan designs utilized in your region can make or break your benefits program. Believe it or not, having a drink and discussion with the right person is still sometimes the difference between getting a claim paid or not.

We have found that national brokerage companies, especially the Silicon Valley technology-based ones, sometimes lead with powerful and sexy software as a key part of their offering, but don't have the local knowledge or relationships needed to support a successful benefits program.  So you end up saving a few thousand dollars by using their free or discounted technology, and paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars more for a program because your out of state broker doesn't know how to get things done in Pennsylvania. It's a great example of passing over dollars to chase pennies.

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"What if we have out of area locations or employees, or really complicated problems to solve?"

Or put another way: "what if I need the capabilities of a large firm at some point?"

We recognize there are times when having the national reach and scale of a large firm can be important, but how do you achieve those without giving up what makes a boutique firm like ours so special?

Our solution was to join a national network of like-minded employee benefit advisors called the TRUE Network of Advisors.  We think it's a Win Win Solution for everyone:

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What is TRUE Network of Advisors?

Local presence with national scale.

TRUE is an exclusive nationwide group of independent benefit consulting firms. Our membership in TRUE enables Kuzneski Insurance Group and our clients to collaborate with the best minds in the industry to solve the most challenging problems we encounter. TRUE members maintain deep roots in the local community, but have access to all the tools, resources, technology and negotiating strength of a national organization - a win/win!

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Member Firm Offices Coast to Coast

632

Employee Benefit Staff Members

10,000+

Employer Groups Served

"Since the ACA was passed, employee benefits seem to be more interconnected with HR & compliance than ever before.  Can you help us in those areas also?"

Definitely! We help our clients with HR & compliance challenges every day.

Demand for HR & Compliance support has gone up considerably since the passing of the ACA. Not only do you have to understand all the new rules and regulations (in addition to the older ones), there are fines and penalties if you don't comply.  Understanding terms like employer mandate, minimal essential coverage, 1094-C/1095-C reporting, FTEs, ALEs, and E-I-E-I-O (the last one is a joke - say it out loud) are vital for success..

Because there are so many more rules to follow and reports to file, compliance has become a huge burden for most companies. Since many of our clients with under 100 employees don't have a full time dedicated HR professional on staff, they rely on us frequently for support and guidance.

Learn more about our HR and compliance solutions here. 

 

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HR & Compliance

Fractional-HR services, HR assessments, HR hotline, training videos, handbook builder, compliance tools, and more

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Payroll & HRIS

Integrated all-in-one systems that create great efficiency for you and your team

"Can you help us leverage technology to be more efficient and to communicate better with our team?"

We sure can.  It's one of our passions!

The technological advances in recent years have been mind blowing, and they are impacting the way employee benefits are administered and communicated. We've integrated technology into most of our processes, and provide cloud applications to help you with common tasks such as onboarding/offboarding employees, and conducting annual open enrollments.

Since "Protecting Our Client's Data" is one of our Fundamentals (#27), be assured we also have advanced cyber security in place, and ongoing training for our team, to keep the bad guys out and your confidential data safe.

If you aren't currently using an integrated all-in-one payroll & HRIS system, you might be experiencing pain with recurring tasks like entering employee deductions for employee benefits into your payroll system. We would strongly urge you to consider an all-in-one system for efficiency and accuracy, and can help you identify one that will meet your needs. We have some great partners who will offer you substantial discounts and enhanced support if you implement their systems in partnership with us.

Learn more about our payroll and HRIS systems here

"I'd like to keep all my insurances together. Can you also help with my business insurances like general liability and workers compensation?"

That's a big YES...we do it all the time.

By keeping all of your insurances together, it enables us to develop a more comprehensive Strategic Roadmap for you, and also cuts down on the amount of effort it takes for you to keep everyone up to date on changes to your business.  For growing companies, that can be a huge time saver!

Learn more about our business insurance solutions here. 

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Business Insurance

Cyber liability, D&O, key person life insurance, and more

 

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"Employee benefits are all new to me. Will you teach me the basics?"

Absolutely!  It's one of our favorite things to do (seriously).

You are not alone. We have helped hundreds of first time entrepreneurs and others who got stuck learning employee benefits while on the job. It's like building an airplane while trying to fly it at the same time...not much fun and bound to crash. 

If you want to learn the basics and beyond, we are happy to teach you. Just let us know how we can help.  In the meantime, take a look at some featured blog posts below to get started. 

 

Your approach looks great!

If you are ready to get started, let's get a time scheduled to talk:

Schedule a Meeting
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