Group health insurance for Jacksonville employers

The local employer base

The Census Bureau's Statistics of U.S. Businesses for 2022 counts 35,344 employer firms and 646,582 paid employees in the Jacksonville, FL metro area — a smaller official metro count than Tampa Bay (74,457 firms), Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford (63,094), or Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach (192,943) in the same file. 29,978 Jacksonville-area firms had fewer than 20 employees and employed 101,335 people. Another 2,669 firms were in the official 20-to-99-employee class, with 94,170 employees. No under-50 metro total is published. Ares' 2-to-50 core sits across those two official classes.

Those figures are for the official Jacksonville, FL metro area, not a city-limits count.

What official surveys can and cannot say about cost here

Because MEPS-IC 2025 does not publish a Jacksonville-only premium, the right official averages to cite are Florida's statewide figures. At private-sector firms with fewer than 50 employees, average annual premiums were $9,742 for single coverage and $24,957 for family coverage, with average employee contributions of $2,500 (single) and $10,263 (family) (Tables II.C.1, II.D.1, II.C.2, and II.D.2). The statewide under-50 offer rate was 22.8% (Table II.A.2).

The 2025 area tables do publish a "remainder of state" line for Florida after the three named metros. Those remainder averages (a 42.6% offer rate, and average premiums of $8,800 single and $25,941 family among offering establishments) mix Jacksonville with other communities that are not named separately. We cite them only to explain why they are not used as a Jacksonville figure. National context is on the cost of small-business health insurance. Your proposal will be built from your census.

Florida's small-group rule, and who sells coverage

Florida's Department of Financial Services states that small-group health plans are for employers with one to 50 full-time-equivalent employees. Self-employed individuals and family-only businesses are covered through the individual market.

For policies effective on or after January 1, 2026, the Florida Department of Financial Services Small Group Market Carrier List names the marketers that advised the Office of Insurance Regulation they are offering ACA small-group plans. The indemnity/PPO list is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida d/b/a Florida Blue, National Health Insurance Company, and UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company. The HMO list is Av-Med, Inc.; BeHealthy Florida, Inc. (TruLi for Health); Capital Health Plan, Inc.; Florida Health Care Plan, Inc.; Health Options, Inc. d/b/a Florida Blue; Neighborhood Health Partnership, Inc.; and UnitedHealthcare of Florida, Inc. County-level on- and off-SHOP availability is on the Florida OIR tables. Some of those HMO names are regional. We will only compare products the OIR tables show as available for the counties where your people work. Pages on Florida Blue, UnitedHealthcare, and AvMed describe products; they are not a statement that Ares is appointed with every carrier or that any carrier endorses the firm.

For a Jacksonville-area roster, the OIR county tables — including Duval and any neighboring counties where people work — are the availability source, not a statewide assumption that every name on the DFS list sells in every county. We will not assume that a regional HMO on that list is available in Jacksonville unless the OIR tables say so.

Continuation when someone leaves the plan

Federal COBRA generally applies to employers with 20 or more employees. For many smaller Florida groups, section 627.6692, Florida Statutes — the Florida Health Insurance Coverage Continuation Act — provides continuation when federal COBRA is not available. The statute's basic continuation period is 18 months after the date coverage would otherwise have ended because of a qualifying event, with a disability extension described in the same section. See COBRA for employers.

How we help a Jacksonville employer