Small Group/Business health insurance only requires two people to be considered a “small group.” Group/Business insurance can also cover dependents of the owner and/or employees of the business without underwriting for pre-existing conditions.
Small Group/Business health insurance does not require each individual in the group to go through an underwriting process. This means that all applicants will be covered regardless of any pre-existing medical conditions and cannot be declined for coverage. If a member does have a pre-existing condition and has had a lapse in health insurance coverage, the new small group policy may exclude any treatment costs to treat the pre-existing condition for 6 months.
A small group could be a sole-proprietor with one or more employee/s on payroll, a partnership, an LLC or Corporation with a minimum of two officers or more. This allows even the smallest business to have health insurance coverage regardless of any pre-existing condition.
The premiums for group health insurance policies are higher than individual health insurance for just this reason: the health insurance company knows they might be paying out higher medical costs as they must accept all applicants, regardless of the good or bad health.