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The Top 3 Reasons Employers Offer Supplemental Insurance Plans

You’ve probably heard that more employers are offering supplemental insurance plans as part of a competitive benefits package. But do you know why? Accident, critical illness, cancer, disability and other voluntary plans can help keep benefits relevant, robust and affordable—without adding hassle to HR’s already busy workload.

Let’s take a closer look at why employers offer supplemental plans as part of their worksite benefit solution:

1. To recruit and retain employees

More than ever, supplemental insurance plans are an important part of an attractive employee benefits offering. A LIMRA study finds that 7 in 10 employers offer voluntary benefits to improve morale for their existing employees and to attract and retain new talent.1 Companies today need to offer benefits that people value. The benefits are customizable, so an employee can mix-and-match the  plans, enrolling in what works best for their family’s needs. And importantly, with healthcare costs rising along with major medical plan deductibles, most employees appreciate the “safety net” supplemental insurance plans may provide. 

2. To complement non-traditional benefit programs

Not too long ago, the standard fare on the employee benefit menu included a paid vacation, retirement plan and major medical insurance. Benefit offerings have become more complex for a variety of reasons including the economic climate, healthcare reform and employee demand for more flexible, even personalized, employer-sponsored programs.

Among these are financial wellness programs. Combined Insurance does not offer these programs, but many reputable companies do. These have become more than a workplace benefits trend for good reason: they’re helping employees learn how to manage their money and improve their financial well-being. After all, according to PwC’s 2017 Employee Financial Wellness Survey, 52% of workers overall are stressed about their finances and 45% say their finance-related stress has increased over the past 12 months.2

More and more, employees are looking for ways to help alleviate financial stress and make the most of their resources. In the event of a covered loss, supplemental insurance provides cash benefits which can be used anyway the employee wishes. If an employee has an unexpected accident or illness, they not only have to pay medical bills, but they have to keep paying their regular bills like mortgage, utilities, education loans and a variety of day-to-day costs. When recovering from an accident or receiving treatment for a serious illness, meeting any combination of these costs can be a challenge. It’s times like these when a supplemental insurance policy’s cash benefits can be helpful.

  • Find out more in Medical Emergencies and Major Illnesses Hit Your Employees’ Pocketbooks—Hard.

3. They’re easy to set up!

As if expanding on a competitive benefits package isn’t enough, supplemental insurance plans are easy for employers to administer—and they add little to no cost to overall benefits spend. Many supplemental plans are paid for by employees, and their premiums can be  affordable and managed through payroll deduction. It all adds up to convenience and value for both HR and employees.

References:

1LIMRA Study Finds Employers Interested in Offering Voluntary Benefits. (n.d.). Retrieved December 20, 2017, from http://www.limra.com/posts/PR/News_Releases/LIMRA_Study_Finds_Employers_Interested_in_Offering_Voluntary_Benefits.aspx.link opens in a new window

2 P. (n.d.). 2017 Employee Financial Wellness Survey. Retrieved December 20, 2017, from https://www.pwc.com/us/efwsurvey.link opens in a new window