A group, health insurance policy, refers to health insurance provided by an employer to its employees. Nowadays, almost all companies offer group health insurance. Two major reasons are behind it:
- Changing work environment, which is more demanding and often leads to health complications.
- Increasing healthcare costs. No employer would like their employee to go bankrupt trying to stay healthy.
Group health insurance is a key employee benefit that may provide health cover to the employee and his/her family members. Though companies are not mandated to provide corporate insurance, it is viewed as a necessary perk and adds to the prestige of the enterprise.
Though, pretty much necessary, and standard, group policies do offer certain unique benefits which can be useful for the employees.
Why Offer Group Health to Employees?
You may be wondering why companies take the trouble to provide group cover to their staff it is, after all, an expense to them. Well, there are many reasons:
- Firstly, employees’ wellbeing is the responsibility of the employer
- Secondly, it helps them to create a competitive value proposition for prospective employees
- It also enables them to retain talent, and boost the performance of employees
- Lastly, companies get tax breaks for offering health insurance policies
A good group health policy can go a long way in creating a loyal workforce. There are times when employees accept better health benefits instead of higher remuneration. Moreover, a group cover makes employees feel taken care of.
The Hidden Benefits of Group Health Policy
- Group Health Insurance Is Cheaper
A group health insurance plan is cheaper than individual health plans, usually by about 30 per cent. Premiums are lower about the sum assured, compared to individual health insurance policies. Therefore, even if you are sharing the premium with your employer, it’s still less than your individual health cover.
- Low Premiums Does Not Mean Fewer Benefits
Most group health plans offer cover for childbirth and maternity for the employees and spouses, a benefit not usually available with individual health insurance plans. More than that, treatments of certain critical illnesses (again not usually covered by individual health plans) is available under group health insurance.
- Group Health Covers Pre-Existing Conditions
A group health insurance policy is, by and large, easily available to the employees of a company. In most cases, employees need not go for medical check-ups, and the policy kicks in from the day you join the company. The best thing about group health cover is that it in many cases, it covers pre-existing medical conditions of the employees. In most cases, employees are not denied health coverage based on their age or past medical history.
- No Co-Pay
The best group health insurance policies do not apply co-payment clause. Meaning employees are eligible for free treatment up to the cover limit of the policy. However, this may increase the premium a little, but if you seek to offer the best to your workforce, this is not at all expensive.
- Convert Group Plan to Individual Plan
Some insurers offer the feature where, after leaving the company the employee can continue the plan as an individual cover by switching his/her health cover to individual policy. However, this may increase the premium cost, it is still better than going out in the rain without the medical insurance umbrella, especially if you have family members covered under the same policy.
There can be many other things you should know about the health policy you can offer to your employees. For instance, did you know that corporate cover is a master plan provided by companies and it includes all employees in the organization under the same umbrella? You can include dependent parents of the employees under the policy as well (if your workforce values this benefit).
In the end, corporate health insurance is an excellent provision to offer to your staff. However, you’ll need to balance between the benefits and premium payable to make it sustainable over a longer period.
How Can the Employer Select the Best for The Employees?
There are more than 20 insurance companies that specialize in providing corporate health policies. It may not always be possible for the organizations to compare and research about all of them and figure out the best. Online corporate insurance advisors such as SecureNow fill this gap very efficiently. They can help companies in analysing their needs, decide the right cover amount and manage the policies after buying.
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 23rd, 2017 at 4:35 am and is filed under Health Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.