HealthInsurance.com, an Internet-based health insurance brokerage and administration company based in Los Angeles, Calif., offers small businesses the opportunity to research and apply for group health insurance online.

The company launched its new web site on Jan. 9, 2001. It features free online quotes for small group coverage, side-by-side comparisons of a variety of health plans, and a health insurance tutorial.

Although the company currently provides coverage to only small businesses in California, it expects to offer its employee health insurance services to 70 percent of the nation within the next several months, according to Bob Darin, the company's chief operating officer. HealthInsurance.com offers products from well-known health plans, including Blue Shield of California and Kaiser Permanente.

Darin says employers can complete employee health insurance applications online with help from the company's sales staff. The employers then receive, sign, and return binding insurance contracts by mail. HealthInsurance.com also provides customer support via email, real-time chat, and a toll-free telephone number (888) 969-1020, which is in operation Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., (PST). According to Darin, the company's sales staff is composed of licensed insurance agents.

HealthInsurance.com is backed by Synapse Capital, an investment management firm in southern California, and Kelsey National Corp., a licensed health insurance broker/administrator based in Los Angeles. Kelsey National, a company in business for more than 36 years, is licensed to sell insurance in all 50 states.

Kelsey National owned the domain name "healthinsurance.com" for several years, according to Darin. Last year, it decided that market conditions were right to spin-off a new company based on that name to capitalize on the need for better health insurance information and services for small business.

In "Small Employers and Health Benefits," a study released in October 2000, by the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI), 57 percent of small employers don't know that they can deduct 100 percent of their health insurance premiums from their income taxes. The same study also found that 29 percent of the small employers surveyed are "somewhat likely" to start offering health benefits to their employees in the next two years.