Insurance

Health Insurance

Offering health coverage is a major decision for your business. When looking for a plan that fits the needs of your business and employees, you should carefully consider things like the cost to you and your employees, and the health services covered.

HealthCare.gov insurance: The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) is for small employers who want to provide health and/or dental insurance to their employees — affordably, flexibly, and conveniently. This is a great opportunity for small organizations that do not offer health insurance as a benefit to start offering health insurance as a covered benefit. More information about the SHOP Marketplace can be found by accessing HealthCare.gov.

Other Insurance

In order to recruit or retain employees, employers may also look to expand their employment packages to include additional insurance offerings, such as dental and vision insurance.

Dental Insurance

According to the American Dental Association, employees rank dental plans as the third most important employee benefit. Dental insurance can be confusing to understand. This Comprehensive Guide to Supplemental Dental Insurance provides more information about types of dental insurance. Organizations can offer employees dental insurance as an added benefit or can offer employees a dental stipend to be used to purchase an individual or family dental plan.

Vision Benefits

Vision benefits provide employees with coverage for routine eye examinations and discounts for the purchase of corrective eye-wear, and additional policies contribute to other eye-related needs and procedures. HR Advisor provides additional information regarding the benefits of an organization offering vision insurance to employees.

Life Insurance

Organizations may choose to offer life insurance as an available benefit for employees and may include the option to buy additional coverage for employees and their family members. HR Daily Advisor provides further details regarding life insurance for employees. Additionally, Group-Term Life Insurance (life insurance coverage provided under a policy carried directly or indirectly by an employer) can be an added benefit to an employee, even if the policy provided by the employer is a small policy with the employee having the opportunity to purchase additional life insurance. The IRS provides tax information regarding Group-Term Life Insurance.

Disability Insurance

Disability insurance can also be a benefit offered to health care employees to add to an employee benefits package. Disability insurance provides financially for an employee and family when the person cannot work because of an injury or illness. Forbes recently identified disability insurance as one of the most overlooked employee benefits. Disability insurance can provide employees with added peace of mind, knowing that they will continue to be able to support themselves and their family should injury or illness arise.

Cancer Insurance

Although most employers do not cover the cost of cancer insurance premiums, offering the employees the option to purchase cancer insurance coverage can add to a benefits package for a prospective employee. Cancer insurance is a supplemental health insurance that mitigates the costs of cancer treatment. With additional advancements in cancer research, paired with additional awareness about family histories with cancer, cancer insurance can provide additional peace of mind for employees who may be at risk for developing cancer.

Although additional insurance offerings may or may not seem like a large investment for employers, for employees, these types of additional coverage can be the deciding factor when searching for a job in the health care industry versus another industry, such as retail or manufacturing.