Benefits for My Team- pt 2
By VICKY BROWN
Employee Benefits don’t stop at medical insurance. There’s a whole variety of other offering that come under the ‘employee benefits’ umbrella.
Now while the most well known may be medical coverage, coming in a close second (and third) are dental and vision benefits
Many times dental benefits are packaged with the same insurance carrier as the medical coverage – but it doesn’t have to be. You can absolutely have medical coverage from one company and dental coverage from another.
The main thing to keep in mind is that you want the best coverage for your team, and the best pricing for you.
One interesting thing about both dental and vision coverage is, it can be what is called a ‘voluntary’ plan. Meaning the employee pays the full cost of the monthly premium. This can be a nice feature to take advantage of if you are on a very limited budget, but you want to be able to tout a full array of benefits when you’re recruiting.
Now, there can be participation limits with voluntary plans – meaning there’s a minimum number of employees that have to enroll. But again, your benefits broker can walk you through those details.
On the flip side – you could have a more traditional approach. The company pays part or all of the premium, and the employee pays the rest.
It will still be a pre tax deduction from their check (if you have a POP 125 plan in place); so can help both you and your team member with the tax load.
OK, when it comes to dental plans – they almost mirror medical plans. You can have a dental HMO – usually called a DHMO, or the dental version of a PPO. And again, like medical HMOs and PPOs – the dental HMO is usually less expensive than the dental PPO, but offers less flexibility.
One big difference with dental plans is the annual maximum. This is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay out for covered expenses each year. I usually see the annual maximum range from $1,000 on the low end to $2,000 on the high end.
And again, like with medical PPO plans, there is an annual deductible that the user will usually have to pay before insurance kicks in. And if you want things like braces, you’ll have to look for specific plans that cover them – so again, it’s important to have a good broker, and to really communicate with them on your needs.
On the vision side – most times I see these set up completely separate from the medical insurance carrier – in fact at the time of this episode, VSP is the nation’s largest vision provider. And no, this isn’t a commercial for VSP – that’s just a fact. But there are definitely also other carriers, like EyeMed and Ameritas among others. And in fact, many of the medical carriers also offer vision plans (and you might even get a bundle discount).
So, all that to again say…check with your broker (see why you need one?)
Depending on the carrier – the vision coverage may mimic the medical format – meaning an HMO type plan offering and a PPO type plan. The main thing you’re going to look for with a vision plan – including, of course, how much it costs each month – is how often eye exams, lenses, contact lenses and frames are reimbursed. Hopefully at least once a year. And, of course, what the reimbursement rate is.
“… I know the world of employee benefits can be a bit confusing – but hopefully this helps out a bit. And remember, you do not have to go this road alone – use your FREE expert. Get a great insurance agent lined up as soon as possible.”
OK, I know all that is a lot to think about. But, if you really want to wow your team – there are other options that are a bit less well known.
First off, there’s life and disability insurance.
On the life insurance side, you can choose a plan that is based on a flat rate – something like, $25,000 worth of life insurance. Or you can go for something based on a percentage of the person’s annual salary – for instance, x amount per $1,000 of coverage.
Life insurance also generally comes with something called Accidental Death and Dismemberment insurance. I know – that sounds AWFUL. Maybe that’s the reason everyone simply refers to it as AD&D coverage. In any event, AD&D is kind of an add on to life insurance, and it expands the coverage.
Now there is one more thing about life insurance, you’ll normally sign up for the basic life – and then you can generally also purchase something called supplemental life insurance. This is the policy that let’s your team members ‘buy up’ to higher limits, and also purchase coverage for their family members.
The best thing about all this is that these policies are generally far cheaper than the individual life insurance policies that someone could get on their own. And many times they are portable – meaning that if the person leaves the company, they’ll have the option of taking the coverage with them, and paying the full premium themselves.
Next is disability insurance. This kicks in when someone becomes disabled outside of work and cannot work. By the way, it’s completely different from workers compensation coverage – which covers lost wages and medical bills if someone becomes disabled due to a work accident.
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Now, disability insurance comes in two flavors – short term disability and long term disability. Both short and long term disability covers missed wages. Short kicks in first at tops out at a specific number of weeks – usually around 25. And at that point, Long Term disability would take over.
Now interestingly, short term disability is required in most states. In fact a number of states have it already baked into your payroll tax payments. And when someone becomes disabled, they would apply to the state disability program and get paid directly from them. California is set up this way.
In other cases, the state may require the employer to purchase a separate insurance disability policy – and that is where the employee would submit the claim. That’s the way New York does it. And in yet in most other states, the employer isn’t required to get short term disability at all – so if the employee suffers a disability, they wouldn’t have any wage protection coverage.
But, even in those cases, you can choose to put a short term disability plan in place if you wish. It’s a nice safety net for employees. And if you’re concerned about the cost, again – think about doing a voluntary plan that the employee pays for full.
On the long term disability side – it kicks in after short term has run out, and can continue until the normal retirement age for social security.
Now these plans, both short term and long term, can be complex, have lots of carve outs and limitations and options. So you absolutely should consult with a qualified insurance broker before you dive in.
Sure, I know the world of employee benefits can be a bit confusing – but hopefully this helps out a bit. And remember, you do not have to go this road alone – use your FREE expert. Get a great insurance agent lined up as soon as possible. Even if you don’t want to offer benefits yet, they can give you lots of excellent advice to set you up for the future.