Tag Archive for: health insurance

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Why Invest in Health Insurance for Your Employees?

A study found that 70% of people don’t feel valued by their workplace. In that same study, 25% of people believed that their productivity at work would improve if they received employee benefits. When you show your employees you value their hard work, they will be more likely to strive to perform better. It’s part of why investing in health insurance for your employees is so important. 

 

Investing in health insurance is essential to ensuring a happy and healthy workforce. Navigating employee benefits that your employees actually want, can be a challenge. Not to mention the various requirements necessary for employers with 50 or more employees. So, why should you invest in health insurance for employees?

 

Learn more about Affordable Benefits, talk with one of our team members!

 

Employee Benefits Increase Employee Productivity

According to the CDC, employees who prioritize preventative care, such as annual check-ups, are more productive in the workplace. This may be attributed to a few different reasons. Whether they’re taking less sick time, or they’re less stressed about their health, improving focus on their work, whatever the outcome, is beneficial to you. 

 

As an employer, you want your employees to remain focused on their work to ensure ongoing success. Having to worry about their personal healthcare and that of their dependents drains their time and energy. While it can be time-consuming to set up proper health insurance, partnering with the right company can simplify the complexities involved.

 

Almost anyone in a management role knows the importance of employee morale in the workplace. A positive workforce yields positive results. One way to ensure your workforce remains positive is to provide benefits that match their needs. After all, employers who provide great benefits gain a better reputation for their business, while also increasing productivity, and decreasing turnover. 

 

When you partner with a broker who can guide you through the process seamlessly, health insurance doesn’t have to be complicated. They can help select plans that are right for your employees, help set up your virtual benefits, and serve as a go-to resource to answer questions that your employees may have. 

 

Why invest in health insurance for your employees?

 

How can Ancillary & Voluntary/Worksite Benefits Attract and Retain Top Talent? 

In today’s job market, employees require more than traditional benefit programs. Benefits like vision, dental, accident, term life, critical illness, and hospital indemnity insurance can provide your employees with additional coverage when they need it most.  These additional benefit options allow your employees to tailor their benefit coverage to their needs.

 

When employees are given the choice in their benefit programs, they are more likely to use them. And when employees use their benefits, as we said above, they are able to remain healthy and ready to work more often. 

 

Employees look for employers who offer voluntary benefits because these benefits give employees choice, they meet various needs of a diverse workforce, and they ensure employees remain financially stable. Offering voluntary benefits adds a level of insurance coverage that many workers have not previously had access to. Benefits beyond the traditional 401(k) and health insurance are vital to attracting the right talent for business. 

 

At Innovative HIA, we offer our clients comprehensive coverage that provides the complete solution for employers who want to provide affordable benefits to their workers. Service is our priority. We pride ourselves on our reliable, fast, and friendly team that makes compliance with ACA easy and affordable. 

 

You Remain Compliant with ACA Requirments – and Avoid Paying Hefty Fines

As an applicable large employer (ALE) you are required by the Affordable Care Act to provide benefits to 95% of your full-time or full-time equivalent employees. If you fail to do so, you will be subject to some pretty significant financial penalties. 

 

The Cost of Pentalty A 

If an employer fails to offer benefits to their full-time employees, they will be subject to a penalty of $2,700 per employee annually. Violations are assessed on a monthly basis. When broken down monthly, each month that an eligible employee is not offered coverage will earn you a $225. A large company with 5,000 employees that fails to provide proper benefits for its employees, could be subject to a $13,500,000 annual fine.

 

The Cost of Pentalty B

Penalty B is calculated for every full-time employee that was not offered minimum value coverage by their employer and went to the Health Insurance Marketplace and qualified for a premium tax credit. The annual penalty per employee in this scenario totals $4,060. Penalty B is also calculated on a monthly basis and when broken down to a monthly rate equates to $338.34 per employee. 

 

If a company failed to offer minimum value coverage to 100 ACA full-time eligible employees, or if the offered coverage was not affordable and they received a premium tax credit or subsidy on the exchange, the employer involved would be liable for an annual fee of $406,000.

 

At Innovative HIA, we have the most competitive affordable benefits available. We ensure the benefit plans you offer your employees are fully ACA compliant.  To achieve this, we process your 1094/1095s on your behalf. If there are ever any errors in your 1095 processing, we refile for you. No hassle to you, just compliant benefits.

 

Read on to learn more about how offering minor medical benefits is more beneficial than not. 

Article originally published on SBMA Benefits.

 

infographic explaining why employers should invest in health insurance for their employees

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How Can You Add Value to Your Existing Benefits Plans?

Benefit plans serve as a great way to provide value to employees beyond their salary. Because benefits are becoming increasingly important, it’s important that you give your employees the option to tailor their benefits to their needs. At Innovative HIA, we believe in meeting your employee’s medical needs with additional benefit options. We offer our clients the option to choose various voluntary/worksite, ancillary, and virtual health benefit options. 

How do ancillary benefits (vision and dental insurance) bring value to your employees?

Oral and eye health are essential to our overall well-being. There are quite a few serious conditions that can be detected with regular check-ups for eye exams and oral exams. More than 90% of common diseases have oral symptoms. Among these diseases that can be identified and managed due to regular oral exams are diabetes and heart disease. 

The dental plans included in our benefit offerings include preventative care and basic procedures. The preventative care services include checkups, cleanings, and x-rays. They also include cavity fillings and other basic procedures.

Vision care plans can help make annual eye exams more affordable. With the greater use of screens and an increase in eye strain because of the usage, eye exams are essential to ensuring overall health and well-being. It can also help your employees save on eyewear, lens coating and enhancements, and corrective surgery. 

How do worksite/voluntary benefits bring value to your employees? 

Accident, term life, critical illness, and hospital indemnity insurance provide an avenue for you to meet your employees medical needs beyond benefits. Accident insurance helps employees pay for the medical and out-of-pocket costs that may incur after an accidental injury. Term life insurance is an affordable way to provide financial protection for your employee’s loved ones during working years. 

Critical illness coverage adds a safety net for under-insured persons. Lastly, hospital indemnity insurance can offset high deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses so that a hospital stay does not become a financial crisis. Giving your employees the chance to cater their benefits to their needs is essential to their happiness. 

How do virtual benefits bring value to your employees?

Lastly, virtual benefits provide a great way to ensure your employee’s needs are met. Right now virtual health benefits are essential to a well-rounded benefits program. With Innovative HIA, your employees get 24/7 access to doctors at no cost to them! They are able to speak to a licensed physician when and where you need one by phone or on video. 

Behavioral health is also essential to your employee’s benefit programs. Our virtual health plans offer behavioral health/therapy at a $50 copay. Your employees can speak to a therapist whenever they need one.* Lastly, our benieWALLET stores their health-related information in one easy place so they are easy to access anytime, anywhere. 

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How to Use Your Health Insurance To Meet Your Health Goals

New Year’s resolutions are known to fall by the wayside just as quickly as they begin. Old habits die hard. The exercise routines, juice cleanse, and promises of a healthier fresh start can easily be put on the backburner. In a recent study, researchers found that in 2022:

 

  • 26% of people planned to lose weight
  • 24% of people wanted to exercise more
  • 21% of people want to eat healthier 

 

No matter where you are on your health journey – you can still use your health insurance to meet your health goals. But how? It’s simpler than you’d think. Let’s dive in. 

MEC Coverage 

Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) plans meet the minimum requirements for an insurance plan to be considered compliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). All applicable large employers (ALEs) with 50 or more full-time employees must offer 95% of their full-time employees ACA-compliant benefits. If they don’t provide this coverage, ALEs are liable for fines and penalties by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Read more here on why offering MEC benefits is more affordable than not.  

 

The three tiers of MEC options available are: 

 

  1. Standard MEC plans are ACA compliant and include coverage for wellness, preventative services, prescription discounts, and telehealth services. 
  2. Enhanced MEC plans take coverage one step further than standard plans and are aimed at attracting and retaining top talent by also including primary and urgent care visits with low copays, and discounted specialist and laboratory services. 
  3. The highest-level MEC plans include the enhanced MEC plan benefits along with added coverage such as prescription coverage and low copays. 


How To Use Health Insurance to Meet Health Goals

Your health insurance can lead you toward the right steps to keep yourself healthy. Preventative care can help keep you and your healthcare team ahead of potential chronic illnesses. Catching diagnoses such as high blood pressure, or other similar conditions early can help avoid them becoming more serious down the road.

 

By using your health insurance resources, you are actively using the tools readily available to you to meet your health goals. Let’s unpack how a basic MEC plan can help you achieve your health goals. 

 

Annual Physical 

One of the best ways you can support your health goals is by visiting your primary care provider annually. This appointment helps you consistently monitor your physical health year over year. During a physical, your healthcare provider will examine you to check for any underlying conditions you may not be aware of before they become more serious or potentially deadly. 

 

In a poll taken by Kaiser Health, 92% of Americans do believe in the importance of an annual physical, but only about 62% of Americans actually take advantage of their annual physical. 

 

If your healthcare provider identifies an issue during your visit, they can then help you identify the best course of action for treatment or refer you to a specialist. 

 

Vaccinations 

Routine vaccines are another great way to help your body stay healthy and strong against viruses and bacteria that cause illness. 

 

Vaccines help develop the body’s immunity and create stronger defenses to fight against disease. According to the CDC, “Every year thousands of adults in the U.S. become seriously ill and are hospitalized because of diseases that vaccines can help prevent.” 

 

Receiving your routine preventative and wellness vaccinations can:

 

  1. Lower your chance of getting certain diseases, like how the Hepatitis B vaccine lowers your risk of liver cancer 
  2. Lowers your odds of spreading disease to others 

 

Click here to see the CDC’s recommended vaccine schedule. 

 

Telehealth 

Virtual visits are a great way to speak with a healthcare professional to continue making the healthiest decisions for yourself. Seeking expert advice can help you know how to best care for yourself, and know when it is a good idea to see a physician in person. 

 

Having a telehealth visit before an in-person exam can help the healthcare provider prepare for your visit, and understand what you may need in case you do need to go into the office. It also reduces the time you take to physically go to the appointment, wait in the waiting room, and return home. 

 

Your health journey isn’t yours alone. Use resources like telehealth visits to maximize physician resources. 

 

For more information on how to make the most out of your telehealth visit, read our article here. 

 

Prescription Discounts  

Medication can be expensive. Let your health insurance support the cost of necessary medications that keep your body healthy and functioning properly. Using your insurance prescription discount can help save hundreds, if not more, dollars on medications that some may not be able to live without.

 

Certain providers may be able to offer generic options for brand-name drugs to save you money while still getting you the medications you need.

 

Screenings/ Bloodwork 

Take advantage of the screenings and bloodwork panels included in your preventative care and wellness insurance plans. These screenings and bloodwork exams were created for a reason– to flag any potential illness before it becomes an issue. 

 

The Bottom Line

Catching a chronic illness or disease before it becomes more difficult to manage is one of the best outcomes of preventative care. 

 

Use to resources that your health insurance offers to keep yourself healthy. Taking advantage of these preventative care services are small manageable opportunities for you to implement your New Year’s health resolution throughout the year.  

 

Looking for more information on minor medical coverage? Read our article here. 

health insurance can be used to meet health goals

Article originally published on SBMA Benefits.

Attention Brokers: Are You Offering Your ALE Clients the Most Affordable MEC?

Attention Brokers: Are you offering your ALE clients the most affordable Minor Medical Coverage (MEC)? How can you offer your applicable large employers a one-stop shop for all their needs? Benefits are no longer about simply meeting Minimum Essential Coverage options.  You need to offer worksite and voluntary benefits, telehealth options, call center availability, and easy portal management. Why should you offer these options to your employers? Because they want them.

In order for employers to attract and retain great talent, they need great benefit options. This means going beyond standard Minor Medical requirements and offering services that provide value and attract the best workers.

Let’s Start with Voluntary Benefits

Worksite and voluntary benefits include accident insurance, term life insurance, critical illness insurance, and hospital indemnity.

  • Accident insurance includes aid in payment for medical and out-of-pocket expenses that may occur due to an accident occurring.
  • Term life insurance includes a way to provide financial protection for loved ones while employees are working.
  • Critical illness insurance adds a safety net for those who are under-insured.
  • Hospital indemnity benefits help to offset high deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses so a hospital stay does not become a financial crisis.

Next, Consider Offering Your Employees Access to Telehealth Care 

With 24/7 access to doctors, telehealth–also known as Virtual Health–can help employees get care when they need it with added convenience. At Innovative HIA, we offer telehealth options that include behavioral health and therapy access, to give employees the ability to speak to a therapist whenever they need it.* In addition, it helps employees receive necessary prescriptions without having to go to a doctor’s office.

Employers look for convenience when looking for benefits, as a broker you can provide a one-stop-shop for all your ALEs benefits needs. This means 24/7 call center support and easy access to portal management, single-point billing, and US-based customer care.

At Innovative HIA, we offer portal management access to provide employers with the ability to make plan changes, order ID cards, and have them shipped within a few days, check their claim statuses, and give employees the ability to manage their own profiles.

With bilingual call center support, you’re getting licensed representatives to help manage enrollment and provide year-round support. All of our representatives are in-house, which means they understand your client’s needs.

Innovative HIA can provide a one-stop shop for all employers to handle their benefit needs. As a broker, it is your responsibility to provide your employers with the best possible options for their needs. Contact us to learn more!

For more information on how we support employee benefits administration, read our article here. 

Article originally published on SBMA Benefits. 

offer your clients the best mec plan