SHOP marketplace plans, group coverage, and benefits design built for retail shops, restaurants, salons, and local service businesses with 2 to 50 employees on payroll.
Four shapes of small business. One advisor who understands all of them.
Multi-generation operations where ownership, payroll, and family overlap - and the benefits plan needs to reflect that.
Storefronts, shops, salons, and service businesses with a handful of employees and a real Main Street footprint - no HR department required.
Just you, often plus a spouse on payroll. We design coverage around real income reporting and Schedule C realities.
Independent law, accounting, dental, chiropractic, and medical practices with 2 to 20 employees on the books.
Small business owners are routinely sold the same group health plans designed for 200-person companies. The math doesn't work, the administration doesn't work, and the coverage doesn't reflect how a small, local business actually operates.
We file the SHOP paperwork, send the employee communications, and stay on the phone with carriers so you don't lose a Tuesday to enrollment forms.
Premiums get modeled against real payroll, not benchmark spreadsheets. We show you the tax credit math line by line.
When the owner, spouse, and an adult child all work the same business, we design coverage that doesn't penalize family payroll.
1 to 50 employees, often subsidy-eligible
Sole proprietor or single-member LLC
Married owners both on payroll
We start with a 30-minute call about your payroll, your family situation, your employees, and what last year's coverage actually cost you out of pocket.
We compare SHOP marketplace, individual, and hybrid strategies side-by-side - with the tax credits and reimbursement math worked out, line by line.
We send you a written benefits plan: which carriers, which tiers, what employees see, what you pay, and what gets reimbursed.
We file with the carriers, communicate to your employees, and stay on through renewal, mid-year changes, and any claim escalations.
The scenarios below are illustrative examples based on common situations, not verified client endorsements. Individual results depend on your census, location, and carrier availability.
"We were quoted a group plan that would have cost us most of our payroll tax savings. Our advisor redesigned it around the fact that three of our employees are family, and we kept everyone covered."
Illustrative example - Dana, restaurant owner (5 employees). Results vary by business.
"We compared SHOP with individual plans for my employees, and we ended up with a group plan plus an HRA that worked better for everyone on my team."
Illustrative example - Maria, hardware store owner (4 employees). Results vary by business.
"Eight of us, three on different schedules. The hybrid group-plus-individual strategy kept our full-time crew on a real plan and reimbursed part-time staff fairly. Renewal was painless."
Illustrative example - Raj, hotel owner (8 employees). Results vary by business.
A few quick questions about your business. A licensed Main Street Benefits advisor or one of our marketing partners will reach out with group plan options that fit your team.
We'll tailor your options based on who needs coverage.
SHOP (Small Business Health Options Program) is a marketplace specifically for employers with 1 to 50 employees offering group coverage. Individual ACA marketplace is for people buying their own coverage. SHOP plans are often eligible for a small employer tax credit (up to 50% of premiums) and are administered as group coverage; individual plans use household income for subsidies.
When the SHOP exchange wins, when it doesn't, and how the tax credit really pencils out.
Why putting your spouse on payroll changes your group options - and the right way to structure it.
The IRC Section 45R credit, eligibility math, average-wage thresholds, and the filing steps to claim it.
Free Quote
Licensed insurance agency in all 50 states