Employee Benefits for Therapy and Counseling Practices in Chicago
Group health, dental, vision and disability for the therapists and staff at Chicago therapy practices, from an independent agency that works with hundreds of practices and therapists.
The Insurance People is an independent, woman-owned and women-run agency in Skokie that sets up group health insurance and employee benefits for therapy and counseling practices across Chicago's North Side, from Lincoln Park and Lakeview to Lincoln Square, North Center and Streeterville. We shop plans from multiple carriers, handle enrollment, and answer your team's questions all year. All of our services are complimentary, and it's the same price to go direct as it is to work with us!
Updated November 2026
Benefits for Your Practice's Team
We specialize in serving mental health practices throughout Illinois, working directly with hundreds of practices and therapists. This page is here to cover benefits for your own team: the therapists, office managers and front desk staff who keep your practice running.
We work with group practices, most often practices with 20 to 70 employees, and with solo therapists who want a plan of their own.
Where We Work in Chicago
Based out of Skokie on Old Orchard Road, we work with therapy and counseling practices across Chicago's North Side:
- Lincoln Park, Old Town and the Gold Coast
- Lakeview and Wrigleyville
- Lincoln Square and Ravenswood
- North Center, Roscoe Village, Irving Park and Avondale
- Streeterville
Practice on the North Shore? See our page for therapy practices in Evanston, Northbrook and the North Shore.
When Practices Call Us
- Your renewal came in higher again, and your agent sent it over without any other options.
- Your agent is hard to reach, or you only hear from them at renewal time.
- Your agent retired or sold the agency, and now your practice just gets an automatic renewal email.
- Your plan runs through your payroll company, and you get someone new every time you call.
- You're ready to offer health insurance to your W-2 therapists for the first time.
If you're starting a plan for the first time, you can sign up anytime, not just during open enrollment. Group plans can start on the 1st or 15th of any month.
How We Shop Your Renewal
As independent agents, we don't work for any one insurance company. When your renewal comes in, we compare it against plans from the other carriers that write groups your size and walk you through your options side by side. We put your options together quickly, so you're not waiting a week for quotes.
We don't have a magic wand for rates. What we do have is every realistic option for your practice, and a good sense of what other therapy practices offer their teams, so you can keep great benefits for your therapists within your budget.
Who Can Be on Your Practice's Plan
Lots of practices pay therapists per session or have a mix of full-time and part-time folks, and that changes who can join the plan.
- Group health insurance is offered to a company's owners and employees. Some carriers also let you offer coverage to 1099 contract workers if at least one eligible employee enrolls; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois is one of them.
- Each carrier has rules for how many hours someone needs to work to be eligible. We check them for your practice before you pick a plan.
- Under federal rules, a full-time employee averages at least 30 hours of service a week or 130 hours a month (IRS).
- Practices with 50 or more full-time and full-time equivalent employees fall under the Affordable Care Act's employer rules (IRS).
Help for Your Therapists and Staff
When you work with The Insurance People, we do the legwork: we coordinate the plan options, look up doctors and medications, explain how deductibles and copays work, and review plan details and benefits with your employees.
- We set up enrollment for new hires and handle dependents and year-round changes.
- If a claim or a bill doesn't look right, we'll call the carrier or the hospital to sort it out.
- We field your employees' insurance questions whenever they have them, so you don't have to.
Paperwork We Handle for Small Practices
Bigger companies have an HR department for this. Most practices have an owner and an office manager, so we do it with you and for you.
- COBRA. Federal COBRA applies to employers with 20 or more employees in the prior year (U.S. Department of Labor). Illinois also lets employees on an insured group health plan continue their coverage for up to 12 months after they leave or their hours drop below the plan's minimum (215 ILCS 5/367e). When a therapist leaves, we help you send the right notices.
- Section 125. A cafeteria plan lets employees pay their share of premiums on a pre-tax basis (IRS Publication 15-B). We help you set one up so deductions come out pre-tax.
- ERISA. Employer health plans covered by ERISA must give employees a summary plan description (U.S. Department of Labor). We help you get your plan documents in place.
Already run payroll through Gusto? We can work with what you already have set up. Check out our step-by-step guide, How to Set Up Benefits Deductions with Gusto.
What People Are Saying
“Alexandra and her team have been so accommodating! We use Gusto for our payroll and offering benefits was new to us. We’re so happy we started working with The Insurance People for our benefits instead of Gusto. They made the transition seamless and answered all of our questions along the way.”
“I initially had Gusto act as my insurance broker but they did not offer the sort of plans that made sense for my practice. Alexandra and Melissa not only were extremely responsive to helping me find plans that matched my employees’ needs, but were instrumental in resolving the issues I was having with Gusto and helped get everything set up correctly. I’m so glad I paid attention to the numerous recommendations I saw from other therapists in my networking group!”
Solo Therapists
Within the state of Illinois, Blue Cross Blue Shield offers 1-person group plans, which can give a solo practitioner access to a broader PPO network than the marketplace. Our Illinois Psychological Association Guide to Insurance 101 answers the questions therapists ask us most.
Questions We Hear From Practices
- Does it cost anything to work with you?
- No! All of our services are complimentary, and it's the same price to go direct as it is to work with us.
- Can we switch to you before our renewal?
- Yes. Changing agents is done with a short letter to your carrier, called a broker of record letter. Your plan stays the same, and we take it from there.
- When should we reach out?
- Three to four months before your renewal date is ideal, so there's time to compare options.
Your Advocates That Care
Let's Connect!
(773) 697-8082
info@insuranceppl.com
5225 Old Orchard Road, Suite 8, Skokie, IL 60077
Sources: IRS, Identifying full-time employees (irs.gov/affordable-care-act/employers/identifying-full-time-employees); U.S. Department of Labor, COBRA coverage for employers (webapps.dol.gov/elaws/ebsa/health); Illinois Insurance Code, 215 ILCS 5/367e; IRS Publication 15-B (2026), Cafeteria Plans; U.S. Department of Labor, Plan Information (dol.gov/general/topic/health-plans/planinformation); Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Underwriting Reference Guide for Producers, 1-50 Small Group.