By Theresa Semple
The insurance professionals at Semple Solutions, LLC, have long touted the advantages of employer sponsored insurance (ESI). Statistics show that potential employees are often lured not just by pay scale, but by the benefits being offered by employers. Further research shoes that employees are more likely to stay with a company if they like their health plan.
Additionally, beyond a traditional healthcare plan, supplemental benefits such as hospital, critical care, and accident insurance can also add a to the draw and retention of employees for businesses of all sizes. Here’s a look at some statistics related to healthcare benefits and some of the supplemental insurance coverage being offered by employers that today’s workers are searching for.
Employer Sponsored Insurance
America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Coverage at Work survey, found that employer-provided coverage delivers high-quality coverage and meaningful value for American workers. The survey revealed that more than 180 million Americans, or about half of the U.S. population, receives health coverage through an employer.
“As of 2022, 58 percent of all small-firm employees and 61 percent of all large-firm employees were covered by their own employer’s ESI plan,” according to The Center for American Progress (CAP). “Employers offering ESI typically limit eligibility to full-time employees. In 2022, 78 percent of workers were eligible for health insurance through their employer.”
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported in 2018 that while employer-provided health coverage is important for recruiting purposes, it was even more important when it comes to employee retention. Those surveyed reported that the healthcare package offered by their employer is a key factor in whether they decide to stay in their existing role or search for greener pastures.
“Fifty-six percent of U.S. adults with employer-sponsored health benefits said that whether or not they like their health coverage is a key factor in deciding to stay at their current job,” reported SHRM. “Forty-six percent said health insurance was either the deciding factor or a positive influence in choosing their current job.”
The aforementioned 2023 Coverage at Work survey by AHIP found 63 percent of workers with employer-provided coverage were satisfied with their current healthcare plans. Interestingly, “the most important benefits delivered through employer-provided coverage include emergency care (62 percent), prescription drugs (58 percent), preventative care (55 percent) and care for chronic conditions (41 percent).”
Hospital Care Plans
In addition to regular medical care coverage, there are supplemental benefits packages available to companies to offer further coverage to the staff that keeps them in operation. One of those supplemental benefit options is a hospital care plan or hospital indemnity insurance.
Hospital care plans provide funding for when your employees find themselves in the hospital and faced with a deductible or coinsurance payment. Hospital indemnity insurance can help pay for the bills affiliated with a hospital stay, which can be quite costly. These supplemental benefits plans can help cover out-of-pocket expenses such as medical copays, deductibles, and other regular expenses such as food, rent, and utilities.
Critical Care Plans
Similar to hospital care plans, critical care plans, also known as critical illness insurance, offer financial support when critical healthcare is required for your employees. This type of supplemental insurance may also provide funding for helpful services such as medical-related transportation.
Critical illness insurance can provide additional coverage for medical emergencies that one can’t plan for such as heart attack, stroke, or cancer. Due to the fact that such medical emergencies or illnesses typically incur higher-than-average medical expenses, critical care policies will pay out cash to help cover those medical costs that are incurred beyond what traditional medical insurance covers.
Accident Insurance
Another supplemental health benefit is accident insurance. This type of healthcare supplement covers certain injuries sustained in an accident. This may include broken bones, loss of a limb, concussions, burns, or paralysis, among others. Health insurance companies often pay a facility or provider directly. Accident insurance pays the employee directly.
Accident insurance may also help with coverage in the event of an accidental death. Should an employee perish in an accident, this type of supplemental insurance could pay out to a beneficiary designated by the employee, depending on the coverage in the policy.
Supplemental Benefits Matter
Supplemental insurance, when offered through an employer, can make a dramatic difference in the financial welfare of an employee that has an accident, winds up in the hospital, or requires critical care. This is especially true if the critical care or hospital stay is long-term.
The 12th Annual Guardian Workplace Benefits Optimization 2023 study reported the “Average U.S. medical plan deductibles in employer plans increased 60 percent between 2012 and 2022.” It also found that only 46 percent of workers believe their health care plan is enough to cover a major medical event (down from 62 percent in 2022), especially given the increases in deductibles over the last several years. The rise in out-of-pocket medical costs are contributing to the financial fragility of the American worker.
“As high deductible health plans (HDHPs) have grown, so have the deductibles: the average deductible increased from $917 in 2010 to $1,673 in 2022,” according to the Guardian report. “Yet roughly half of working adults say they only have $2,500 saved for a medical emergency, and four in 10 say they have less saved for an emergency than a year ago. They’d need to turn to loans, credit cards, or borrowing money from their retirement plan or college savings accounts to cover an unexpected medical expense of $2,500 or more.”
With rising healthcare costs and higher deductibles in a time of economic uncertainty, inflation, cost of living increases, and employment uncertainty, employers are recognizing the need for offering their employees supplemental health benefits.
“Nearly seven in 10 employers agree that supplemental health benefits help them meet workers’ need for greater financial security,” reported Guardian. “Research from industry associations and trade groups project that supplemental health will continue to be the fastest growing group insurance benefits in the next three years, especially critical care (77 percent), hospital indemnity plans (74 percent), and accident insurance (56 percent).”
Not only will providing supplemental healthcare benefits help lure new talent to your business, but it will aid in retaining quality employees. Employers have a terrific opportunity to ensure the financial stability of their employees should a healthcare disaster occur by proving supplemental benefits. None of us can predict the future, but we can give ourselves and the people who work for us peace of mind with strong, supplemental benefits.
For more information about employer-provided supplemental healthcare benefits, visit Semple Solutions, LLC, online or call (732) 238-6734. The call is free and there’s no obligation, so what have you to lose? Contact us today!
