Let’s be honest, one-size-fits-all primary health plans are plain vanilla. Of course, vanilla is a perfectly okay ice cream flavor. It’s the base needed to create a lot of more exciting flavors. In benefits terms, it’s necessary, too. You have to have that base primary plan. But today’s market doesn’t allow for much variety in those base plans. That’s why you scoop on the other flavors with supplemental products.
Supplemental is the differentiator that adds the flare to the otherwise bland offering. It’s where you, broker, can get creative in how you suggest benefit structures to clients. It’s where you, employer, can entice top talent and retain them with health benefits that stand out.
Endless Options
With the demand for these types of products rising, new and innovative supplemental options are coming to the market. Kind of like how there’s always a new ice cream flavor to try.
But all supplemental is not created equal. There are 3 different types, which you can read more in depth about here. Below we’ll cover the key takeaways.
Health Accounts
- Tax savings
- Employee or employer funded
- Must offer to all employees
- Not insurance
- Subject to contribution limits
Worksite Voluntary Plans
- No tax savings
- Employees opt into
- Employee or employer funded
- Insurance
- Event-driven coverage that requires specified event (or disease) for coverage to kick in
Expense Reimbursed Insured Plans
- Tax savings
- Employer funded
- Can carve out by employee class as defined by the employer
- Insurance
- Not subject to event-driven qualifications
Why Add Flavor?
To wrap up, let’s recap the pros of using supplemental:
- Add coverage on top of the primary plan
- Create the benefits structure that’s right for each company with countless options
- Stand out among all of that plain vanilla your competitors are offering
- Meet the needs of different employee groups with expense reimbursed insured by carving out coverage
- Leverage tax-efficient supplemental options
At Armada, we are firm believers in going beyond the plain vanilla. We are also strong supporters of expense reimbursed insured. Our insurance products fall under this category of supplemental.