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Group Insurance Benefits
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With group insurance benefits the employer is required to make a minimum contribution to the cost of the plan, typically 100% of the employee cost, and employees are required to participate, meaning enroll on the plan, at a rate of 75%. For small groups, less then 50 employees, the participation requirement can be 100%. There are eligibility requirements that define when an employee is allowed onto the coverage. For example, a full-time employee is defined as an employee who works 30 or more hours per week, and the full-time employee must work 90 days before they are allowed to enroll. These requirements are all part of the group insurance benefits contract, and define how and when the plan will be offered and taken away from employees. In most situations the employer can define these eligibility provisions of the contact. The purpose of these rules is to spread the risk in the group over the entire group according the actuarial assumptions made about the group. It all gets a little more complicated from here, but hopefully this helps you understand a little about group insurance benefits. The following is a list of the group insurance benefits we can help you evaluate and install into your company's employee benefits package.
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Medical, Dental, Life, Short Term Disability, Long Term Disability and Income Replacement Insurance
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How does it work?
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The mechanics of what we do can be broken down in to four main elements.
- Shopping the Market.
- Analyzing the Proposals.
- Installing the Group Insurance Plan.
- Servicing the Coverage.
- Plan Renewal Process.
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Shopping the Market
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If this is a first time benefit plan, we need to gather some basic information about your company. We do this with an employee census form. We ask you to complete this form or send us the information if you have the information in a report, it doesn't matter. We just need to know your employee age, spouse age, number of children. We also need information about your current coverage, the most recent billing statement, a copy of your benefits statement, sometimes we need salary information, a completed group risk assessment, if available claims experience reports and if your company is a small group, less then 50 employees, a copy of your quarterly wage and tax report, and we will also need each employee to complete the insurance application and health questionnaire.
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We submit all this information to the insurance carriers and ask them to provide a competitive quote. In most cases they will, but if you are applying for medical insurance and your group has significant health risk or the carrier feels they can not be competitive against your current plan, the carrier may decline to quote. For some small groups, fewer then 50 employees, the carrier may want to decline to offer coverage; however, under the Federal HIPAA law they must offer coverage. In Utah carriers are allowed to increase your rate to a maximum level of 85% above their lowest rate for the accompanying plan. These rates are all filed with the state of Utah. It gets a bit complicated from here. The idea is that if you are a small group applying for coverage, upon making application one carrier may offer a 20% rate increase and the other a 65% rate increase. This is why it is important to apply to the entire list of carriers and analyze the final proposals.
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Analyzing the Proposals
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This is where McDermott Company & Associates burns the midnight oil. We take the final proposals and break them down into the basic similar elements. We do this in spreadsheets allowing us to compare each plan in an apples to apples format. We compare the rates and benefits, and then we study the proposals to make sure we are not missing any details. We analyze the provider networks, contract limitations, eligibility provisions, contribution requirements and participation rules. We put everything together in an executive summary customized for your company and ready for you to review our recommendations. Basically what we attempt to do is disseminate the information to you. We want you to be empowered to make the best decision for your company. Once you've made a decision on the plan structure and carrier to use were ready to install the group insurance benefit plan.
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Group Payroll Tax Savings Plans
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General Description:
Section 125 Plans, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA), Health Savings Accounts (HSA)
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Retirement Plans
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General Description:
Pension Plans, 401K Plans and Simple Employee Pension Plans.
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Group Voluntary Employee Insurance Benefits
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General Description:
Dental, Supplemental Life, Short Term Disability, Long Term Disability, Cancer, Accident, Intensive care, Universal Life.
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Workers Compensation Coverage
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General Description:
Beehive Insurance
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Business Contingency Plan
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General Description:
Business Owner Life Insurance, Key Man Coverage, Buy/Sell Agreements, Business Overhead, Deferred Compensation Plans.
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Family Insurance Plans
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General Description:
Medical, Dental, Life, Short Term Disability, Long Term Disability and Income Replacement Insurance
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Alternate Funding Methods
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General Description:
Fully Insured, Partially Self-funded, Self-funded, Retro Premium Arrangements, Contingent Premium Arrangements.
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COBRA Administration
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General Description:
Fully Insured, Partially Self-funded, Self-funded, Retro Premium Arrangements,
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Payroll and Payroll Tax Administration
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General Description:
National Payroll Services
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Human Resource Training and Consultation
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General Description:
Ben Spencer
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