Frequently Asked Questions
Accident insurance provides employees with:
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, we have all become more in touch with our own mortality and the fragility of life. Everything – from our financial situation to our capabilities – can change in an instant due to accident or illness.
Employees are more worried than ever before about their financial situation, their partner, and their children if they should become ill, injured or hospitalized and unable to work. Couple this with the fact that 40% of Americans have less than $300 in savings in 2021, and it’s easy to see why accident insurance, critical illness insurance, and other voluntary worksite benefits that can cover emergency medical, dental, and vision costs are critical.
Flexible accident insurance plans can be customized to provide the benefits your employees want the most, which can further help to save them money and deliver peace-of-mind for nearly any contingency.
Accident insurance provides options for 24-hour (on- and off-job) or off-job coverage, depending on what your customers and their employees prefer.
Employers can choose 100% employee-paid, cost-sharing, or employer-funded options, depending on the industry and level of employees. In hot fields like technology, where top talent is highly coveted, employers can either share the costs or provide full coverage to employees.
Note that this voluntary benefit can be paid for by employees using pre-tax dollars, which can minimize their taxable income to lower their tax bill in April. Under the new tax laws, many employees will be looking for as much tax savings as they can. Purchasing employee benefits that can literally put money in their pocket when they need it most – if they are unable to work due to an accident – provides a return on their investment that can be measured not just in dollars, but in peace of mind.
Plans provide rate guarantees with no age-based benefit reductions, which means everyone in your company can opt in for the same levels of coverage, regardless of age, medical history or current health status.
Plus, employees can opt to continue coverage even if they leave their current job, making this benefit even more enticing to today’s workforce.
Accident insurance can be bundled with other voluntary worksite benefits, including critical illness insurance, dental, vision, or Group Life / AD&D for cost savings to employers and employees. If an employee or employer needs to file a claim, the benefits work concurrently with no offsets or restrictions.
That means an employee may be able to file for a lump-sum payment through critical illness coverage and accident insurance, while also collecting statutory disability benefits, if qualified, on the schedule determined by their carrier or the state insurance fund.
While TDB in New Jersey, DBL insurance in New York, and PFML in Connecticut and Massachusetts pay out weekly or bi-weekly, sometimes with a one-week waiting period, accident insurance provides a single lump sum payment.
Since benefits are paid directly to the employee/claimant, they can use this money to cover medical bills, pay off credit cards to reduce their living expenses while they collect disability insurance, or to cover living expenses as they arise. Additional payments for childcare costs or home health care, if needed, can further help reduce the financial burden on workers struggling with pain or disability from an accident.
With the labor shortage affecting retail, hospitality, technology, education, healthcare and a plethora of other fields, organizations are looking for ways to set their business apart with their offerings. The right benefits package is more important today than ever before.
Accident insurance and other voluntary worksite benefits provide employees with the flexible options they want to enhance their peace-of-mind, address their financial fears, and fill their needs in virtually any scenario.
It’s not enough for the employer of the future to offer major medical and consider their benefits to be “competitive.” Voluntary worksite benefits and ancillary coverage, including dental, vision, Group Life / AD&D, critical illness and accident insurance fill important coverage gaps that can help recruit and retain the best employees in any industry.
Insurance brokers and benefits supervisors face many challenges heading into 2022 and the post-pandemic era. As profit margins shrink, brokers need to diversify to maintain their income levels. It’s always easier to enhance benefits for existing customers than to generate new leads, guide them through the sales funnel, and bring them onboard.
While you shouldn’t let your sales funnel run dry, you can find enhanced profits by showing your current customers the benefits they are missing – and why they need them. Starting with voluntary, employee-funded benefits is an easy sell, since it doesn’t cost business owners any money out of pocket and it may actually reduce their total premium costs on other benefits, including statutory disability and family leave.