There may be different types of employee insurance. One of the most important benefits that employees seek from an employment package is healthinsurance. On the other hand, life insurance is a highly-demanded benefit that remains optional.
How an employer-provided healthcare plan is set up
The employer pays the premium, or the lion’s share of it, which covers a wide range of health care expenses that vary by policy. Usually employees look at 100% coverage for preventive care with in-network providers, dental and visual care, have no lifetime maximum and offer an out-of-pocket maximum associated with them.
Generally, group health insurance plans cover the cost of medical office visits for expenses related to illness and checkups, hospitalization, emergency room services, ambulance transportation, operations, physical therapy, and even prescription drugs.
Depending on the sector, employees might need to contribute to the scheme with a percentage of the cost of their health insurance premiums, usually deducted through a payroll.
Benefits provided by an employer-sponsored healthcare plan
Reducing the cost of health care coverage for employees;
Guaranteed coverage: depending on the chosen plan, the insurance company is obliged to cover all applicants whose employment qualifies them for coverage.
Types of life insurance benefits
Group-term life insurance: provided to employees only depending on their employment, not on other factors (e.g. job duty, marital status, age). It can be only offered to employees, not extended to spouses or other family members.
Term insurance: offered only for a specific period of time, usually for the employer-sponsored one for as long as the employee is working for the company.
Group accidental death or dismemberment: it covers benefits to the beneficiary of the policy in the event of the employee’s death or accident in which the latter loses use of portions of the body (e.g. an arm or leg). Dismemberment may lead to the partial payment of the policy as a percentage of the total benefits depending on the actual lose.
Business/travel accident insurance: the policy intervenes only in specific circumstances related to the death/accident of the employee occurring while traveling for business. It is mostly important in certain sectors of business and when business travels happen in remote/dangerous places.
“Split-dollar” life insurance: a specific policy paid to the beneficiary of the employee when the latter dies and returns the paid premiums to the employer. It has a risk-element to it and it is advisable to be offered only to key employees.
Employee insurance is one of the benefits employees are mostly concerned with when starting a new job, therefore it is better for the employers to already have a sponsored plan set in place that can be attractive to the potential employee.
