Group Benefits

Below are our most popular offerings for employers of all sizes. If by chance you don’t see what you’re looking for on the list, please ask. We will find a way to get you what you need.

401(k)
A Section 401(k) plan is a qualified profit sharing or stock bonus plan which provides a tax-deferred retirement savings medium for employees. Amounts contributed to the plan are not taxable to the participants until withdrawal (assumed to be at retirement). Traditional 401(k) plans can be funded entirely from employee salary reductions, except for installation and administration costs. In most plans, however additional direct employer contributions to the plan enhance its effectiveness.

403(b)
The 403(b) is a tax-deferred retirement plan available to employees of educational institutions and certain non-profit organizations as determined by section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions and investment earnings in a 403(b) grow tax deferred until withdrawal (assumed to be retirement), at which time they are taxed as ordinary income. These organizations are usually referred to as section 501(c)(3) organizations or simply 501(c)(3) organizations. Participants include teachers, school administrators, school personnel, nurses, doctors, professors, researchers, librarians, and ministers.

AD & D
Most accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) policies provide benefits for accidental death, paralysis or loss of limb, speech, hearing or eyesight. The percentage of payment varies by company and policy. This benefit is in addition to any other life or health insurance policies you may have. Most policies will not pay if the accident or death was due to suicide, drug abuse or mental illness. AD&D is an added benefit if your employer provides it, but it may be too expensive to purchase on your own.

Dental
In general, a dental insurance plan covers a percentage of the dental charges incurred at a dental office. There are several different types of group dental insurance plans for purchase. They have a wide range of coverage options which may include free preventative services such as cleanings. There is no industry standard annual maximum limitation, deductable, or co-pay. Such coverages and benefit limitations are determined by each insurance company as filed with the department of insurance. Coverage can also include orthodontic treatment and care.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
EAPs allow companies and their employees to have direct access to counseling services. These counselors are available to answer questions, help resolve conflict, discuss personal issues, help in times of crisis and assist in internal conflicts.

Most services are 24-hour but to reduce costs some companies offer hours of operation. All calls and reports are confidential. Online services are a new alternative offering a variety of information and answers to assist employees and employers.

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
Flexible spending accounts are a type of "cafeteria plan" commonly used among smaller employers. The employer uses these funds to pay for certain benefits with "before tax" dollars. It allows the small business owner to combine the expense of health insurance with a systematic approach to a tax-deductible medical savings plan.
The payment of the FSA benefit is tax deductible for the employer and not considered additional income to the employee. As these dollars are not considered wages, they are subject to neither FICA nor FUTA tax.

Group Life
Group life insurance serves as an excellent tool for creating funds after a devastating loss. It has cost advantages when purchased in quantity (minimum number of participants may vary), and plan participation is not taxed on insurance premiums. The plan premiums are also tax deductible by the company.

Health Saving Accounts (HSAs)
Health Savings Accounts combine a savings account with a high deductible health insurance plan. They offer lower health insurance premiums with the following tax advantages:
•    contributions to HSAs are tax deductible
•    interest earnings accumulated are tax deferred
•    withdrawals for covered medical expenses are never taxed

Legal Insurance
According to an American Bar Association survey, the average person needs to seek legal advice four to six times a year, but doesn't because of the high cost. Many small business owners who need a lawyer but can't afford one now have the option of legal insurance.

It works much like an HMO giving businesses access to a network of attorneys who agree to provide services for free or discounted rates in exchange for a steady stream of business.

The benefits of pre-paid legal plans, particularly the more affordable access plans, include easy access to an attorney, significant cost savings, and, in many cases, preventive services that can help with issues before they reach crisis proportions. For instance, a lawyer may be contacted for advice on mediating a dispute with a neighbor over property lines instead of arguing until the dispute becomes a lawsuit.

Life Insurance
The cost of life insurance will depend upon the type of policy, as well as the insured’s age and health.

A life insurance contract is made up of provisions, options and riders. Provisions describe or explain features, benefits, conditions or requirements of the contract. Options are features of the agreement that require a choice to be made regarding some aspect of coverage. Riders are additional coverage (or endorsements) offered by the insurer at the time of application and added to the standard agreement in return for an additional premium.

Whole life insurance provides a set dollar amount of coverage, which can never be canceled, in exchange for fixed, uniform payments. Because the payments are the same throughout your life, in the early years of the policy the premiums are high compared to your statistical risk of death. This is why reserves are built up.

Assuming you live a long while after the policy was issued, your payments become low, compared to your risk of death. In other words, during the first few years of a whole life policy, insurance companies take in substantially more money than they pay out. The insurance company invests the surplus. Some of the surplus becomes your cash reserve, which grows over time. The cash reserve earns dividends, paid by the insurance company. After a set time, usually several years, you have the right to borrow against the cash reserve. You can also cancel the policy and receive its cash surrender value.

Term life insurance provides a preset amount of cash if you die while the policy is in force. For example, a five-year $130,000 term policy pays off if you die within five years. If you live beyond the end of the term, you do not receive any money. With term insurance, you pay only for life insurance coverage. The policy does not develop reserves.

Term life insurance is the cheapest form of coverage over a limited number of years. There are many types of term insurance, such as policies that have an automatic right to renew for an additional term, but these options don't change the basic fact that term insurance pays off if you die during the policy time period and doesn't pay anything if you live beyond that period.

Universal life insurance combines some of the desirable features of both term and whole life, but universal coverage offers some unique advantages, including:
•    The net cost of universal coverage is usually lower than whole life insurance.
•    With universal life, you can build a cash reserve (as with whole life), but you can also vary the premium payments and/or amount of coverage from year to year.
•    Universal coverages normally provide you with more consumer information than whole life policies.

Long-Term Care (LTC)
LTC describes the plan available for individuals who reach the point of no longer being able to perform the "activities of daily living" by themselves, such as eating, bathing or getting dressed. It also includes the kind of care necessary for one with severe cognitive impairment like Alzheimer’s disease.

Care can be received in a variety of settings, including the insured’s home, assisted living facilities, adult day care centers or hospice facilities. LTC can be covered completely or in part by LTC insurance. Most plans offer flexibility in the amount of coverage chosen, as well as how and where those benefits are used. A comprehensive plan includes benefits for all levels of care, custodial to skilled.

Long- and Short-Term Disability
When an employee or employee's family member gets seriously hurt, the financial loss to your business and/or the employee's family can be devastating. Disability coverage helps provide home care and comprehensive long-term care recovery for those individuals who want to maintain and preserve their financial and emotional independence during times of crisis.

Young workers, whether they are single or married, need this coverage even more than life insurance because they are much more likely to become disabled than die. In many cases, two-income couples should have disability insurance for both wage earners, including coverage on their assets and individual incomes.

Medical Coverage
Medical Coverage is the most popular and important group benefit for employees. When employees have access to healthcare, they use it, reducing absenteeism and increasing morale.
Features of a typical medical plan include:
 
•    doctor co-pays
•    drug card coverage
•    deductibles - available at different levels
•    co-insurance
•    set out-of-pocket maximums
•    co-pays for emergency rooms, hospital rooms and urgent care facilities
•    access to a network of qualified providers
 
Medical Saving Accounts (MSA)
MSAs are funded with tax-favored dollars. If the employee funds the account, contributions are made on a pre-tax basis, similar to funding an individual retirement account. If the employer funds the account, the contributions may be taken as a corporate tax deduction up to 65 percent of the deductible for a covered individual and 75 percent of the deductible for a covered family.

Once funded, the MSA can be used to provide for various healthcare expenses, including those that may not be normally covered by traditional health insurance, such as acupuncture, holistic medicine, eyeglasses and orthodontia. Medical expenses in excess of the fund and the deductible would then be covered by the health insurance benefit.

If the money in the MSA is not used, it’s rolled over into the next year. Money from the MSA can be withdrawn, penalty-free, for non-medical expenses after the employee reaches age 65 or in the event of death or disability. MSAs are portable, remaining with the individual, regardless of employment.

MSAs are currently only available to individuals and businesses with between two and 50 employees.

Prescription Drug Card
Prescription drug cards usually fall in with medical coverage and most of the time are included in that bid, but occasionally they are separate. These cards allow users access to a qualified network of pharmacies in their area and across the country. Most cards allow single prescriptions to be filled at a local pharmacy with a co-pay or discounted rate.

Most plans do allow the user to obtain medications via mail order. With mail order drugs, the cardholder can receive a 30-, 60- or 90-day supply from a mail order center arranged by the prescription card company.

Section 125/Cafeteria
Cafeteria plans, also known as flexible benefit plans and Section 125 plans, are employee benefit packages established in 1978 by Congress under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code. The terms refer to the control each employee has over selecting and paying for his or her own benefits. The employer establishes a menu of benefits that are available to its employees. Each employee then chooses the benefits in which he or she wants to participate.

Using a cafeteria plan, employees pay for the benefits they select before taxes are calculated on their wages. In other words, they get to use 100 percent of those designated dollars for benefits rather than using after-tax wages. With a minimum federal income tax rate of 15 percent and FICA of 7.65 percent, the savings are $22.65 for every $100 used for benefits. Most states exempt cafeteria plan contributions from state income tax as well, leading to more savings.

The matching 7.65 percent FICA tax is eliminated from every dollar employees use in their plans, helping employers save, too.

Vision
Vision plans are relatively inexpensive and most employers will add them to round out a well-designed benefits package. These plans allow employees to get access to vision care and materials at discounted or more affordable cost. They usually have co-pays and annual maximums while materials such as frames and lenses are discounted greatly.
Voluntary Plans

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