As an employer, you face the same task every year: what to add, delete, or update from your employee health insurance benefit. The biggest challenge is balancing benefits with the budget. While you want to give your employees the best possible benefits, you also need to keep your business running.
So, you inevitably have to prioritize the benefits that matter the most. As you consider the options and weigh employee input, below is a list of suggested health insurance benefits you may not want to overlook when you update your benefits package this year.
1. Mental Health
The most productive employees are happy employees. So, you should view mental health benefits as an investment in your company. When you support mental health, your company benefits from higher productivity, higher employee retention, and decreased healthcare and disability costs.
As an employer, you need to learn how mental health impacts your employees and what you can do to include mental health coverage in your health plan. Find out how many psychiatrists and psychologists are in your plan’s network. You may also want to provide a health savings account to offset the cost of mental health treatment.
2. Insurance Programs
In addition to a standard health insurance plan, you may want to diversify your benefits package with other insurance programs. You may want to look at adding benefits such as
- Life insurance
- Vision insurance
- Dental insurance
- Critical illness coverage
- Special coverage for children
Some employers may also offer hospital indemnity insurance, a supplemental plan meant to help cover the cost of a hospital stay. An indemnity plan is an inexpensive way to help minimize the impact on your wallet of a high-deductible plan.
3. Health Savings Account
More companies are offering health savings accounts to offset medical costs and lower premiums. Your employees can use this tax-free money to pay for their qualified medical expenses. If you allow payroll deductions for the HSA on a pre-tax basis, they get access to the full dollar saved for every dollar contributed. Earnings on invested HSA contributions are tax-free.
There are many benefits to offering an HSA to your employees from a business standpoint. All money contributed to an HSA for your employees is not considered payroll and thus does not come with associated payroll taxes. It can reduce the overall tax burden on your company.
4. Employee Advocacy Programs
One of the principles of an advocacy program is that every person should be valued, ensuring that people are not ignored. In healthcare advocacy, it is the need to be respected and listened to and be involved in the decision-making that will affect lives.
An employee patient advocacy program helps your employees communicate with their healthcare providers to get the information they need to make decisions about their health care. Patient advocates may also help employees set up appointments for doctor visits and medical tests and get financial, legal, and social support.
5. Long-Term Care Insurance
For employees in their mid-50s, long-term care insurance can be valuable as they get up in years. Some benefits are portable, which means employees can continue to use the benefit if they leave the company.
Some employers extend the long-term care benefit program to spouses. Group long-term care through an employer typically is easier to get than buying it individually. Consider looking at long-term care through your employer as part of your retirement plan.
Contact Insurance Enterprise for Premier Health Insurance
If you have questions about health insurance and need quotes, contact Insurance Enterprise at 888-350-6605. Speak to a licensed agent and find out more about how you can get an affordable health insurance plan.