Affordable group health insurance rates, in most states, are available to any company that has two or more employees. The eligibility requirements may vary geographically and most companies that are applying for large or small group health insurance plans will need to verify the legitimacy of their business operations, however, this is not necessary for the purpose of obtaining health insurance quotes.

The number of employees insured under the group health plan may also determine the types of coverage available to the employer, as well as the per-employee premium. Usually, a company with between 2 to 50 employees is classified as a small business and may offer small business health insurance plans. Many companies have thousands of employees and will have health plans customized for them by a health insurance carrier. Many of these customized plans may include additional benefits that would be excluded from standard issue policies normally included in the small business health insurance plans. Some large corporations may choose to self-insure and only use the insurance carrier to administer the health plans and benefits. This is done by placing a sizeable bond with their state and pulling from this account to pay medical claims via the administrating health insurance carrier. In doing so, the company is assuming the risk of major medical claims and acting as the insurer.

Most health insurance companies in the U.S. will have three classification levels based on the number of enrolled employees on the health plan: 1) small group, 2) mid-size group, or 3) large group. Although the number of employees that are required to fall into a specific category may be determined by the insurance company or by state legislation, there are common standards for these classifications.