EMPLOYERS
Ancillary Coverages
Include these lines of coverage to make your benefit offering more competitive.
Types of Ancillary Coverage:
Why dental insurance?
As you begin to explore various dental plans, below is what you can expect the structure of a typical plan to include:
- Preventative Services
An oral exam once every six months, may include x-rays, fluoride treatment, etc. - Basic Services
Fillings, repair and maintenance of crowns, bridges, & dentures, and general anesthesia. - Major Services
Single crowns, periodontal surgery, implants, complex extractions, and bridges and dentures
All of these benefits and levels depend on your specific dental plan. This illustration is meant to provide a general understanding of what to expect.
Although the above illustration is simply an example, an employer can customize their dental plan to fit your group’s needs and budget.
Plans to Fit Groups of Any Size
We can customize dental insurance solutions for organizations of any size. Beginning with groups as low as 2 employees, flexible options are available, including dual options for groups who want to offer multiple levels of benefit.
Easily Pairs With Vision Benefits
For a few more dollars a month, employers can offer vision benefits. Vision insurance can make eye exams, frames, lenses and contacts more affordable.
Consider offering both dental & vision to your workforce today.
MAC vs UCR
Learn more about MAC vs UCR (Usual Customary & Reasonable) coverage types.
MAC (Maximum Allowable Charge)
The same fee that the insurance company would pay in-network for a covered service. In a MAC-based DPPO plan, the rates charged per procedure are negotiated between the insurer’s in-network providers and the insurance company.
UCR (Usual, Customary, Reasonable)
The amount paid for a medical service in a geographic area based on what providers in the area usually charge for the same or similar medical service. The UCR amount sometimes is used to determine the allowed amount.
PPO (Preferred Provider Organization)
Does it Cost Extra to Use a Broker?
To implement group dental benefits using Buffer Benefits does not cost any extra, than if you were to go directly to the insurance carrier. With Buffer, you will find a wide selection of dental plans from different companies, free quotes, and assistance from licensed agents.
Why vision plans?
- Why adults need vision coverage
More than 83% of Americans report using digital devices for more than 2 hours per day, and 60% report digital eye strain.1 - Why children need vision coverage
Poor eyesight can lead to misdiagnosis of learning and psychiatric disorders which can result in behavioral problems.2
Voluntary vs. Contributory Plans
Under contributory plans, the employer agrees to pay a portion of the employee’s premium. Most insurance companies will offer a discounted rate if the employer chooses to contribute toward premiums.
Because the group is subsidizing an amount, this makes it more attractive for the employees to participate in the plan. It is common for insurance companies to require a minimum participation rate to secure rates.
Under voluntary plans, the employer agrees to offer the benefit, but does not agree to contribute monetarily toward the cost of the plan.
Why Telemedicine?
Overview of Telemedicine
Telemedicine allows health care professionals to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients online or over the phone. About 63 percent of most illnesses or issues that a family physician would see a patient for can be treated via telemedicine.
“Telemedicine stands out as the fastest-growing health care cost-management technique among employers,” said Julie Stich, CEBS, associate vice president of content at the IFEBP. “In 2016, 44 percent of employers offered telemedicine options. By 2018, that number had jumped to 64 percent. Employees appreciate the 24/7 convenience of telemedicine, and both employers and employees see savings because costly trips to urgent care clinics or emergency rooms might be avoided.”
Employers & Telemedicine
Depending on your medical plan, you may have telemedicine embedded into the plan. A question you will want to ask your broker is “Are the visits of employees and their dependents using Telemedicine hitting our claims utilization?”
If they are, you may want to consider adding an outside telemedicine product so that you can lower your claims utilization. Lower claims = lower premiums.
If you’re an employee, you will want to ask your employer, “What is the cost of a telemedicine visit?” Also, another thing to note is that if you do not cover your spouse or children on the company’s medical plan, can you still also have them covered by telemedicine?
Bottom Line: There are many variations of telemedicine, you want to make sure that you’re getting the most out of yours.
Individuals & Telemedicine
Individuals also have access to telemedicine more now than ever before. Families can enroll in a telemedicine plan and pay $0 copay or $0 for visits through HealthiestYou.
HealthiestYou, a Teladoc company, offers flexible plans with no contract. You can enroll yourself, a spouse, or the whole family online here.
* Stats posted for Teladoc Health.
95%
24/7
92%
Why Life Insurance?
Employer-sponsored & Voluntary Life Insurance
Generally, employers offer two types of life insurance coverage to their employees. Most of the time these are term policies, with the term of the policy being their length of employment. This means, that once they leave your company, their coverage expires. Of course, there are some exceptions to this rule with key-man policies, permanent life policies, and portable policies. Let’s explore the most common types:
Employer-sponsored: The first type is employer-sponsored, which may be a flat policy of $10,000 to $50,000. When a life policy is categorized as employer-sponsored it means the employer is paying 100% of the premiums.
Voluntary life coverage is life insurance that is made available to the employee, but the employer generally does not contribute towards these premiums.
Employers can pair these together, offering an employer-sponsored policy with the ability for employees to add additional coverage using the voluntary life.
There are many different ways you can choose to structure the death benefits. Here are a few common ways:
flat amount
multiple of salary
range
Note: Up to $50,000 of life insurance can be considered pre-taxable. This means when an employee is paying for life premiums, the premiums for the first $50k are paid for before payroll taxes.
Another discount can be applied if the employer contributes towards these coverages moving the coverage from voluntary to employer-sponsored.
Employees Desire Additional Lines of Coverage
In addition to the direct financial return on investment, companies have seen reductions in employee absenteeism, staff turnover and employee stress. Interested in seeing these reults?
