Voluntary Benefits Will Play a Major Role in 2014

Voluntary Benefits will be come more popular and play a major roll in small business benefit planning.

Let’s face it, Obamacare is a mess and who knows when this mess will be sorted out. But the big story in 2013  for employee benefits was the popularity of Voluntary Benefits, such as: life insurance, disability insurance, cancer insurance and critical illness coverage.

Voluntary Benefits are playing an important role in employee benefits as employers look for other ways to compensate and improve employee moral.

How Voluntary Benefits are shaping up for 2014:

Voluntary benefits will play a major role in Obamacare Dissatisfaction.

According to news reports and several recent studies, the “second shoe” in Obamacare has yet to drop. When large employers – who are now exempt from Obamacare until 2015 – realize how health care reform will affect their businesses and employees, they will need to revisit their benefit packages.

To attract and keep employee talent, employers need to offer comprehensive benefit packages. Since many employers are scaling down or eliminating group health insurance, Voluntary Benefits are filling the void and rounding out employee benefits packages.

Voluntary Benefit sales were up in 2013 and amongst the most popular were traditional coverages such as, short term disability, hospital supplement insurance and cancer insurance. These benefits are filling the gaps of traditional group health insurance.

Employees want voluntary benefits: Employees are looking for benefits that enhance their lives and their jobs and voluntary benefits will remain an important factor in employee satisfaction. With voluntary benefits, employees can customize their benefits package and choose what is important to them or their families. They can create a financial safety net by adding on traditional voluntary insurance products.

Employees are more satisfied with their jobs when voluntary benefits are offered in the workplace.

“The Annual Survey of Employee Benefits” conducted by MetLife each year, shows, “companies that implement a voluntary benefits program have a workforce that is more satisfied with their jobs and they are more productive.”  So voluntary benefits can have a direct connection with the employer’s profit margin or bottom line. Happy employees come to work each day, have less sick days and have a higher job performance, thereby the employer has less turnover and makes more profits.

Here are the top 6 Voluntary Benefits to watch in 2014:

1. Critical Illness/Cancer
At least one in three adults will be diagnosed with a critical illness or cancer this year. Critical Illness policies help pay many of the out-of-pocket expenses that people incur while undergoing treatment or therapy. The out-of-pocket can be between $5,000 and $10,000 and because many health care policies have higher deductibles nowadays, only a portion of these costs if any, are covered.

2. Accident Insurance
“Accidents happen,” so they say and if your employees are injured or hurt, at work or at home, they can receive cash for a covered accident. Reimbursement starts almost immediately and can help pay for unexpected expenses such as emergency room visits, X-rays or even hospital stays.

3) Medi-Gap Insurance
Medical gap plans are exactly what they sound like – insurance coverage that covers gaps in traditional health plans with high deductibles. Traditional gap plans pay reimbursement to cover a deductible and is integrated 100 percent with the employee’s medical plan.

4. Disability Insurance
When an employee gets sick or injured they can’t go to work. They use up their sick days and when those are exhausted, they have no income. Disability insurance covers part of their income so they can pay their bills and get back on the road to recovery. Disability insurance is one of the most overlooked products in the work place and can be offered to your employees for only a couple dollars a day.

5. Life Insurance
Everyone knows they need life insurance, but many don’t have it. According to a recent LIMRA study (Life Insurance and Market Research Association); more than 87 million Americans do not own life insurance. The most common reason your employees don’t own life insurance is because they aren’t offered the opportunity. Life insurance benefits can give your employees peace of mind knowing their loved ones are taken care of financially should they die.

6. Dental and Vision
In the past, employers have paid for dental and vision along with major medical plans, but as employers continue to struggle to manage their medical costs increases, dental and vision are becoming voluntary benefits.
Voluntary Dental can cover routine cleanings to root canals. Voluntary Vision plans can cover annual eye exams to full prescription glasses.

For more information about Voluntary Benefits planning for your business, just call: 914-633-1717