The many roads to implementing a SmallBiz benefits program, as discussed in the previous 4 SmallBiz Benefit Option articles:
- Health Care Spending Account (HCSA)
- Traditional Group Insurance (TGI)
- Flex Benefits (Flex)
- Hybrid
- TGI and ASO
- TGI and HCSA
- ASO and HCSA
- Flex and HCSA
offer opportunity to build a truly customized program…especially with the Hybrid options.
One of the ways that an HCSA can be used that isn’t talked about enough is the ability of the Employee to use the funds in their HCSA to purchase other Insurance products.
For example, if an Employer sets up an HCSA program that deposits $2,000 for each Employee and one or more of the Employees didn’t like it simply because it didn’t feel like there was any “What if…” coverage, then they could purchase a product like Green Shield Health Assist ZONE product that could fit their own individual needs.
Let’s take a look at a Female employee who is 34 y.o. and has 2 children ages 5 and 7…the Health Assist ZONE 5 offers her family a moderate amount of,
- Dental – $700 each in first year
- Prescription Drug – $5,000 each per year
- Paramedical (Chiropractor, Massage Therapist, Naturopath, etc…) – $500 per Practitioner each per year
- Vision – $150 every 2 years
The cost would be $296.00 per month or $3,552 annually. Now, that amount may seem overwhelming at first but when you look at using the $2,000 HCSA to offset the cost, then $129.33 per month sounds more palatable.
There are many more options on our “Personal Health, Dental, and Travel” web-page not just from Green Shield but also from Manulife.
So, why would a SmallBiz Owner set up this type of benefits program? Well, by placing a little more emphasis on the fact that the funds could be used to purchase an Individual Health & Dental plan, the SmallBiz Owner is responding to each of their Employees’s unique needs; instead of just saying, “Here’s a $2,000 HCSA, it can pay for any Health and Dental expense.”
Located in Cambridge, ON Sharkey Group Insurance provides independent Employee Benefits advice & counsel for Small Businesses across Ontario.