Evaluation Specialist: A women-owned small business win

Seattle-based Evaluation Specialists is a three-year-old research-based program evaluation consultation firm that focuses on a broad array of critical issues, from rape prevention to serving healthy food in school cafeterias to evaluating the effectiveness of educational programs. The common denominator is using research to enhance health and safety in communities across the country.

QSEHRA Review

Principal Evaluator Blair Beadnell, PhD, spoke recently to Take Command and shared a little about their challenges as a growing company finding affordable healthcare coverage with a limited fund budget and multi-state presence.

Evaluation Specialist currently only employs three people but is on the verge of major growth.

“Since we are a young company, we haven’t been able to offer benefits in the past. Some of our employees have health insurance through their spouse but I actually didn’t and had to find coverage through Obamacare.”

Blair knew his company was at the point of needing to figure out how to offer a competitive benefits package when it came to attracting the top talent in their field of work.  

Another dilemma they faced was trying to find a plan that would work for employees in multiple states, since each state has its own marketplace through Obamacare. “I am based in Seattle, others are in California, and we in the process of adding to our team with out-of-state hires. Through our research, we found out very quickly it was very difficult to find a plan to offer employees in different states and what we did find was extremely expensive.”

We also found that people have preferences with their coverage. Some people expect Kaiser while others expect a PPO.

After some googling, Blair found out about the small business HRA that would allow Evaluation Specialists to reimburse for premiums tax-free and allow each team member to choose their own plans based on their family’s needs.

“QSEHRA allowed everybody to just go get their own plans, whatever works best in their states and we helped them pay for premiums and medical costs.”

Blair came across Take Command after facing some challenges with another QSEHRA administration company. “The more questions we asked, the more we felt blown off. We apparently asked too many questions."

The other company made us feel like QSEHRA wasn’t going to work for us. But once we reached out to Take Command, all of our questions were answered clearly and more importantly, they helped my team understand how QSEHRA would work.  TCH was much more helpful.

Getting set up was easy as well. 

“I found the setup process to be pretty intuitive. Elyse helped me when we were getting set up, which was especially reassuring in places where I was unsure of myself. The set up couldn’t have been easier! And once it was all set up, it’s incredibly simple to use.” 

Is QSEHRA right for your business?

Let us know how we can help! Chat with us online or dive deeper with our new QSEHRA Guide. It walks you through setup, administration tools, FAQs, and rules to know. 

About Take Command

Take Command launched with the goal of bringing awareness, advocacy, and transparency to the confusing world of health insurance for small businesses and individuals. Take Command is at the forefront of this issue, a recognized leader in QSEHRA administration and small business HRA tax strategy, with customers in every state.