Employee Benefits Made Easy
Group Health Insurance & Employee Benefits
Rising Tides Benefits Group is a family-owned employee benefits broker in St. Augustine, helping Florida employers offer better health coverage for less. We design group health insurance plans for businesses with 5 to 1,000+ employees, and we blend Direct Primary Care with major medical to help bring renewal premiums down.
More Than Brokers. True Partners for Florida Employers.
We help business owners cut through the noise of health insurance and build a benefits strategy that supports their people, without the overwhelm. Before we recommend anything, we take the time to understand your goals, your budget and your company culture. Our process is collaborative and transparent, and it's designed to make your life easier.
What can you expect
A personalized review of your current benefits and renewal
Smart plan design with cost control in mind
Blended options that help lower claims and insurance usage
Employee education and open enrollment support
Ongoing check-ins and proactive planning, not just at renewal time
Our Group Benefits Model: Major Medical + Direct Primary Care
We tailor benefit plans to fit your business goals and budget. From strategy through implementation, our team handles every detail so you can focus on running your business. Employers choose one of two paths: a traditional group major medical plan, or an ICHRA paired with Direct Primary Care for fixed, predictable costs. Either way, we round it out with dental, vision and voluntary benefits.
Group Major Medical Insurance
We work with all the major medical carriers in Florida to design group health plans, starting at five enrolled employees. We offer fully insured, level-funded and self-funded options. Whether departments have different needs or you're trying to avoid ACA employer penalties, we help remove inefficiencies. We support stable and fast-growing teams, including W-2 and 1099 workers.
ICHRA + Direct Primary Care
A modern alternative to the traditional group plan. You give employees a fixed, tax-free allowance toward their own health plan, and Direct Primary Care covers their everyday care. Employees and their families get unlimited primary care visits, common prescriptions, labs and annual physicals at no extra cost, with nationwide virtual access, for about $75 per employee per month, paid by the employer.
Ancillary and Voluntary Benefits
Round out your core medical plan with dental and vision insurance, group life insurance, short- and long-term disability, critical illness, hospital indemnity and accident coverage. These supplemental benefits add real value, improve employee satisfaction and strengthen your overall benefits package without adding complexity.
ICHRA + Direct Primary Care: Better Benefits, Predictable Costs
Has your current broker ever told you about ICHRA or Direct Primary Care? Most haven't, and it's what we do differently at Rising Tides. By pairing an Individual Coverage HRA (ICHRA) with Direct Primary Care (DPC), Florida employers can offer real health benefits on a fixed monthly budget, without the surprise increases of a group renewal. Employees get their own health plan plus unlimited primary care for their whole family.
How ICHRA + DPC works
1. You set a monthly allowance. With an ICHRA, you choose a fixed, tax-free amount for each class of employee, such as full-time, part-time or by location.
2. Employees choose their own health plan. They use the allowance toward an individual ACA plan that fits their family, and you reimburse premiums up to that amount, tax-free. Our team personally helps each employee compare plans and enroll, because individual health insurance is what we do every day.
3. Direct Primary Care covers everyday care. For about $75 per employee per month, employees and their families get primary care with $0 copays, so they rely less on their insurance for routine visits.
What's included in DPC
$75 per employee per month, covering the employee and their entire family
$0 copay, $0 deductible, and no extra charge for any number of dependents
Same-day or next-day virtual primary care appointments
Virtual mental health coaching (ages 18+)
More than 1,000 prescription drugs covered
Most primary care lab tests are covered 100%
Care navigation for needs outside the network
Getting Started is Simple
Switching benefits shouldn't be a project you dread. Here's how working with us goes:
Free benefits review
We look at your current plan, renewal, team and budget, and ask what matters most to you and your employees.
A custom proposal, in plain English
You see your current plan side by side with a traditional group plan and ICHRA + Direct Primary Care, with costs for each.
We handle enrollment, then stay with you
We run employee meetings, help each person enroll and take care of the carrier paperwork. After that, we're here year-round for questions, new hires and your next renewal.
Why St. Augustine Businesses Choose Rising Tides
Local and family-owned
We're based in St. Augustine and know Florida's group insurance market.
Award-winning
Business Rate named us Best Health Insurance Agency in St. Augustine for 2024
Year-round support
We help with claims questions, new hires and renewals, not just during open enrollment.
Serving Northeast Florida and beyond
We work with employers in St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Ponte Vedra, Palm Coast and across Florida.
"Brian helped improve my small business's health care offerings. He is extremely knowledgeable and has a knack for explaining complex options in easy-to-understand terms for my team." - Jim L.
Meet the Founder & CEO
Hey, I'm Brian Sesniak
I've helped Florida families and businesses with their insurance since 2019. After my son's 81-day NICU stay brought more than $4 million in medical bills, my mission became simple: no family or business should face a health crisis without the right coverage and someone in their corner. That's why I'm here for every client I serve.
Group Health Insurance FAQs
How many employees do I need for group health insurance in Florida?
We design group major medical plans starting at five enrolled employees. Smaller businesses can still offer Direct Primary Care or ancillary benefits, so give us a call.
Is it cheaper to buy group benefits through a broker?
Using a broker doesn't add to your premium; carriers pay us. Our job is to find savings, through plan design, carrier comparison and blending DPC with major medical, so your renewal is lower than it would be on your own.
What is Direct Primary Care, and does it replace health insurance?
Direct Primary Care is a monthly membership that covers primary care visits, labs and common prescriptions with no copays or deductibles. It doesn't replace major medical insurance for hospital stays or specialists. We pair the two so employees use DPC for everyday care and major medical for bigger needs.
Can I offer benefits to 1099 contractors?
Yes. We build plans that can support both W-2 employees and 1099 workers.
When should I start shopping before my group renewal?
Ideally 60 to 90 days before your renewal date. That gives us time to review your current plan, gather quotes and plan employee enrollment without a rush.
Ready to Lower Your Group Health Insurance Costs?
Book a free benefits review with our St. Augustine team. We'll look at your current plan and renewal and show you what a blended strategy could save.
© 2026 Rising Tides Benefits Group. All rights reserved.
Not a government website. Rising Tides Benefits Group is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or any federal or state government agency. We do not offer every product available in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options. We are licensed, independent insurance broker. We represent multiple insurance carriers and may receive compensation from the carriers whose plans we sell. This does not affect the cost of your plan.