Product Line for Prospective Employers

How do you determine, of available benefits, what is most important to your employees, balanced by affordability? The following is a general consensus developed over many years of feedback and research from employers and employees.

Basic Life Insurance

Very inexpensive and necessary.  $10,000 – $25,000 of group term life insurance for every employee, paid for by their employer.  This most basic benefit may be considered “burial” insurance.  Sometimes this benefit is offered at different levels based on employee classification as hourly, salaried, management, etc.  This is generally the first benefit considered for employees.

Health (Major Medical) Insurance

Very expensive and necessary. The high cost of medical care can ruin the financial viability of almost any employee without this protection.  It is the #1 most requested benefit by employees and generally the most contentious and difficult to manage.

Dental and Vision Insurance

Inexpensive and highly valued.  Employee popularity for dental benefits ranks second behind health insurance.  Recent research links dental health to overall health in very important areas such as heart disease.  Vision benefits cost about one-third to one-fourth the cost of dental and are also very popular.

Disability (Short and Long Term) Insurance

Generally a good value when offered on a group basis through an employer; generally, more expensive when sought out on an individual basis.  This is an undervalued and overlooked benefit among both employers and employees. 99% of all employees work because they need the income to live on.  Many, perhaps most, can’t survive for more that 30 days on savings and liquid assets, but don’t have any protection for their paycheck when unable to work due to health issues.

Short term disability benefits generally begin within one – two weeks of absence and can continue from 13 weeks up to two years, depending on the benefit selected, and can provide up to 66 & 2/3 % of your salary tax-free.

Long Term Disability benefits generally begin 90 to 180 days after absence and continue up to age 65 and also provide up to 60% of your salary tax-free.

Long Term Care Insurance

This is a relatively new insurance benefit that pays for care outside the home when a hospital setting is not required.  It is gaining in popularity as employers and employees become more familiar with its benefits.

Voluntary (term, whole & universal) Life Insurance

Statistics show that the majority of employees who are not offered payroll deduction life insurance through their employer have no life insurance at all.  This means that their home and other assets are not protected and their heirs will inherit debt, not assets, when they die.

Cancer, accident and supplemental health Insurances

The increasing costs of health care coupled with cost shifting from health benefit plans has made these benefits extremely popular with employees.  Often an employer who is reducing group health benefits will offer these plans as an offset for employees to limit higher out of pocket costs.