As health care insurance deductibles continue to rise, interest in voluntary benefits are growing. This trend supports another growth area that we're seeing: companies are looking for innovative, cost-effective ways to enhance their compensation packages and are finding that voluntary health benefits are the solution. We've seen a significant rise in sales for dental discount plans that offer additional benefits over the past six months.
The most popular dental plans that we offer to groups and individuals now include telemedicine, medical bill negotiation and health advocacy services – along with our more typical dental care, vision, hearing, and prescription savings plans.
But, no matter how popular they are, these plans still do not sell themselves. The key to success in the group voluntary benefits marketplace is clearly communicating the business return on investment that can be expected from offering voluntary benefits to employees.
Voluntary Benefits Refresher
Of course, you know employers use voluntary programs to offer ancillary benefits, or supplementary benefits, that help fill in the holes in major medical coverage.
If you have not had much direct involvement in voluntary benefits, you may be surprised by how much the menus have grown.
(Image: Thinkstock)
Many of the newest voluntary benefits provide discounted or free access to services that were not typically associated with health care plans. These offerings tend to address concerns related to security, financial management, health care that may not covered by primary insurance (such as dental) and personal improvement.
Today, voluntary benefits may include
-
Automobile, homeowners, or pet insurance
-
Concierge services
-
Critical illness
-
Cybersecurity/Identify theft protection
-
Dental
-
Education
-
Financial counseling
-
Financial planning
-
Fitness
-
Healthcare advocacy
-
Life insurance
-
Medical bill negotiation
-
Telemedicine/Telehealth
-
Vision
Voluntary benefits are typically offered to employees as an optional add-on to their benefits package. While the benefits may be paid for in part by the employer, these are more typically payroll-deducted benefits.
When sold directly to individuals, voluntary benefit offerings are often described as "discount," or "additional benefit" plans. Target markets in the business-to-consumer space would include self-employed people and owners of very small businesses. Typically, businesses can qualify as a "group" for voluntary benefits purposes if the business employs three to five people.
When sold to groups, these plans offer savings by tapping into discounts for group rates, and discounts pre-negotiated by the plans' providers. The savings are passed on to plan members, giving the cost-savings of group coverage to individuals. Brokers and agents can tap into this market effectively by working with trade groups, chambers of commerce, and other associations that serve small businesses, contactors and the self-employed.
It is important to note that many voluntary benefits offerings are not insurance. They are intended to complement existing insurance coverage, make health care such as dental and vision more affordable, or provide discounted access to a broad variety of supplementary services.
There are exceptions, of course. Some voluntary plans offer supplementary health coverage, or other types of insurance.
