3) Group Insurance Without A Participation Ratio —

About once a year, our office takes another look at all the possible insurance options for our sending agency. It’s always a bit frustrating trying to get all our guys and gals on board. Like many, I suppose, our workers are raising for the organization equivalent to their own salaries, and our workers sometimes have low support and/or have a desire to buy into lower-priced group health insurance plans. Sometimes, if they can’t buy through a group, some of them have a preexisting condition that blocks them from participating in individual or portable plans. Most all international insurance companies demand 75-80 percent participation before they will provide a group health insurance quote. Getting that kind of participation, especially in a large NGO, is really difficult. GNI is now working with a very reputable international health insurance company that will provide quotes without demanding a participation ratio. The one stipulation is that the NGOs have over 50 total employees in the USA and overseas. Third Country Nationals and local employees can also be counted. For more information, check with GNI and be sure to tell them you heard about it in Brigada.