How to Opt for Suitable Health Policies for Employees?
For almost every employee, health insurance is one of the most crucial benefits offered from his or her employer. It is an appealing benefit provided from employers to workers as various surveys have concluded health insurance as a great tool for increasing retention, improving the recruitment, and lessening the absenteeism. However, every insurance plan can’t be considered a good deal for a business. Here are some elements and guidelines to select a policy to perform well for your company.
Types of health policies a firm should buy to offer
When it comes to selecting health policies for employees, small business employers generally opt for traditional health insurance plans. The most favourable benefit given to employees with group health insurance is allowing them to receive treatment from any doctor or hospital.
However, sometimes it is found more expensive to offer than managed care plans as some of the managed care plans provides the option of "fee for service", which mimics the freedom of traditional insurance. Although an extensive cover is offered that comprise the co-pays and deductibles, but employees are required to pay for a big amount for that.
Therefore, before searching for an insurer or broker or evaluating health policies yourself, one must comprehend the points your business wants to attain the insurance plan and frame a list of that. The list may incorporate dental treatment, mental health, or maternity coverage and the option of covering dependents of the employees.
Points to remember while choosing a group insurance policy
Every employer or firm must go for the selection of group health insurance for their employees through a list of criteria. The final policy should suit the needs of employees and meet the organisation’s goals. Here are some points to consider for selecting a group health plan for employees:
Cost — Observe the price of health insurance plan and how much it will cost every employee in the first place. This includes the premium amount and deductibles, and co-insurance costs. Always go for the best plan in your budget as choosing a low-cost plan can impress you for a while, but services of such cheap policies may disappoint you later. This would annoy your employees that can degrade your goodwill too. So, don’t consider a plan only on cost, but look for features that could make it valuable.
Sufficient Coverage - Medical inflation is soaring high nowadays and it will go higher in the coming days. People even find unaffordable to visit doctors for general consultations and medication. However, it is very crucial to find a health insurance plan with enough coverage to enable policyholders in dealing with their medical expenses easily. Choosing a sum insured amount of minimum of 5 Lakh is a good idea here. Also, every year during renewal, you can increase this sum insured for your employees as per the inflation rate.
Proper Evaluation - When it comes to insuring health, the decision should come after a proper evaluation. This comprise a careful assessment of all the available options from different health insurance plans. Therefore, it is vital to examine the best possible deals such as discounts, rewards, and other benefits offered by a plan. In addition to this, the availability of network hospitals, cashless treatment facility and additional costs etc., should be taken into account. Doing this will assist you in getting value for money health insurance policy.
Read The Fine Print - Group health insurance plan holds a great influence on employees as the maximum of them totally depends on this for healthcare and don’t purchase any individual health policy. Hence, it is the employer’s duty to go through the policy document of the plan. It is to ensure that it doesn’t carry any hidden fee, hidden clause, any form of sub-limit or capping, exclusions of specific ailments and so on. If in case some of these points exist, then employers should be aware of this and can convey this to their employees.
Assuring this will protect employees from being deprived of getting treatment or from bearing a huge amount from their pockets during a medical emergency due to lack of knowledge.
How offering a group health insurance plan can help employers?
Group health insurance plans to employees enable them to stay healthy. On the other hand, it brings a lot of benefits for employers as well, which are as follow:
Enhances the Retention Rate - When employees love their jobs or value it, there is an increase of a sense of security. A group health insurance policy doesn’t just safeguard employees and their loved ones from unforeseen medical contingencies by offering sufficient financial assistance, but also deliver a kind of relief and sense of satisfaction. This gesture makes employees believe as their company or employer cares for them.
Strengthen Employee Motivation - When it comes to productivity in an organisation, it can be brought only with a happy and motivated team. Happy employees create a happy atmosphere at the workspaces, which ultimately turn out to be a successful firm. It is a fact that when employees feel safer as well as satisfied, they tend to be happier and motivated, which in turn they deliver more than expected.
Protect Employees from Severe Health Conditions - An organisation can prevent many of its employees from falling prey to some severe health conditions. If we see a bigger picture of our country, it is observed that more than 61% of illnesses, hospitalisation and deaths are happening due to lifestyle diseases in India. Here, group health policies for employees can safeguard them from severe ailments. As soon as these illnesses are detected, they can be properly treated and resolved.
Enhance their Mental Wellbeing - It is quite possible that your employees might be affected by mental stress due to several reasons such as financial pressure, personal issues and so on. Such instances can lead the company to lower productively level and can drag the revenue graph downwards. However, the offered group health insurance plan can’t just protect their monetary savings, but can also increase their complete mental well-being with the right sort of support.
Improves the Company’s Goodwill - Goodwill reflects the organisations’ value in the market, i.e., among the customers, investors and potential customers. Sometimes, it can affect a lot to a company’s earnings as well. Employees are the major source of information that resolves in the industry about the company. If the employee is satisfied with the company’s offerings like group health insurance plan and so on, he or she can disseminate good words about the firm in the market and vice-versa.
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Conclusion
Group Health Insurance has been a great tool for companies to woo their employees. It doesn’t just bring health, savings and comfort for them, but also derive a lot of benefits for the organisation in the long-run as well. This write-up also tries to draw your attention to different types of group health insurance policies and parameters to consider a plan for employees. Going through with the suggested points in this article can help you find a suitable health plan to offer and manage to acquire a long-term gain due to it.
You may also like to read: Is Group Health Insurance or Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Sufficient?
