employee Benefits

Cancer Insurance

Cancer Insurance is a voluntary benefit that few employers think of when designing their benefit package. With Cancer listed as the #2 cause of death among Americans, a supplemental policy to help cover the expenses is vital. A Cancer Insurance Policy costs around $27 per month for single coverage, and it will pay up to $15,000 per 12-month period for radiation and chemotherapy treatments. The benefits are paid directly to the patient and are paid in addition to benefits paid by medical insurance or disability plans.

Also, cancer policies are completely portable, so an employee can keep the policy at the same rate if he should ever leave the company or retire. With benefits like these, you can't afford NOT to have a cancer policy.

Accident Insurance

An accident policy will pay additional benefits should you break an arm or have a medical expense occur due to an accident. These policies pay in addition to a health policy. Accident policies should never be purchased above a long term disability or short term disability insurance policy.

Voluntary Group Life

Voluntary Group Life Insurance is an excellent way to allow employees to purchase additional life insurance coverage for themselves and their families. Many employees are underinsured when it comes to life insurance, this is a great way to allow them to increase the amount of insurance they have. This is a guarantee issue product, which means that employees will not have to go through a medical exam or answer any medical questions to purchase the life insurance.

Some of the better plans also allow employees to increase their coverage at the plan's anniversary date without additional medical questions or underwriting. Most of the Voluntary Life policies on the market are also portable, meaning employees can take their coverage with them if they leave the company.

Group Long Term Care Insurance

Group Long Term Care Insurance is another new benefit in the group insurance market. Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance is designed to help customers preserve their assets and lifestyle in the event of an extended illness or injury that requires costly long-term care.

This coverage pays benefits for the loss of two or more "Activities of Daily Living" or for severe cognitive impairment. Benefits begin after an elimination period of 30, 60, or 90 days and last from 2 years up to "lifetime." Benefits can be increased with an inflation benefit which automatically adds a certain percentage to your daily or monthly benefit amount.

An indemnity model, which is the best option available, pays the full benefit amount selected, regardless of the expenses incurred. A record of expenses is not required, and the money can be used to meet whatever needs the individual chooses. A reimbursement model, which is more common, pays only the amount that is billed by the provider(s). This plan will require you to submit expenses (receipts or invoices) in order to receive your benefits. Group Long Term Care Insurance allows employers to tailor their plans to cover spouses and/or parents, or to include retirees and other eligible family members. This product delivers a flexible combination of employer-funded and employee-purchased coverage, to meet a broad range of employer budgets.

401(k) Retirement Plans

401(k) Retirement Plans are a mutually beneficial way to maintain a stable work force.

Employers' Benefits

Mostly funded from dollars paid as salary.
Lets you deduct your contributions from taxes as a business expense.
Helps recruit and keep quality employees.
Helps members build retirement security.

Employees' Benefits

Save through easy payroll deduction.
Choose the amount they want to save.
Change the amount saved to meet current needs.
Reduce their taxable income.
Defer taxes on the amount saved and the earnings until the members receive benefits from the plan.

Hospital Gap Policies

Hospital Gap Policies are a great new way to help ease the sting of high medical insurance deductibles. Medical Gap or Bridge plans are available either as an employer paid or voluntary benefit. For example, if you have just changed your health insurance deductible from $500 to $1,500 to avoid paying high premiums, you may be able to purchase a Hospital Gap plan that covers up to $1,000 for less than the difference in premium. Essentially, you have purchased the same amount of coverage for less money!

Most Hospital Gap policies do not have medical underwriting requirements or pre-existing exclusions. They are an economical way to continue providing quality health insurance benefits to your employees without battling the huge rate increases each year.

Accidental Death and Dismemberment

The Hatcher Agency has an exclusive product that allows individuals to buy $100,000 worth of Accidental Death and Dismemberment Coverage for just $4.00 a month for an employee and $6.00 a month for family coverage. This policy is 24 hour coverage and covers both on the job and off the job accidents. Employees are able to purchase up to $400,000 worth of coverage as long as the coverage does not exceed five times their annual salary. This coverage is offered to employers with as few as 10 employees participating.

LegalShield Coverage

Health Insurance

Health Insurance is the most common benefit offered by employers, as well as the most expensive benefit. Most health insurance plans provide comprehensive coverage with relatively low out-of-pocket expense to the employee. Newspapers and magazines often refer to the skyrocketing cost of medical care and health insurance. With this trend continuing, there will likely be some changes to our health insurance system on the horizon.

As an independent agency, The Hatcher Agency can provide insurance plans from numerous health insurance companies. With the health insurance market changing frequently, we are always on the lookout for quality, service-oriented insurance companies for our clients.

HSA and FSA

What is an HSA?

An HSA is a tax-advantaged benefit account for people enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). You can make pre-tax contributions each payday in order to pay for IRS-approved eligible expenses for yourself and your dependents.

What is an FSA?

An FSA, or Flexible Spending Account, is an account sponsored by your employer that enables you to set aside money from each paycheck, before taxes, to help pay for IRS-approved, out-of-pocket medical expenses for you and your dependents.

Captives

The Hatcher Agency has an exclusive insurance captive that gives better protection for Self Funded clients:

1. No new lasers as long as you’re in the Captive
2. 30% rate-cap on stop-loss premium
3. Sharing in underwriting profits
4. Block pricing and leveling out of renewals (pooling) due to $650M in stop -loss premiums by the Captive
5. 12 month incurred and 18 month paid (12/18) specific aggregate contract -this allows your groups to be in the Captive for one year and leave if you wish to do so with protection for six months of run-out (most are 12/15 contracts)
6. Negotiate out of network claims
7. Captive RX Consortium - member retains and receives all drug rebates
(saves on average 20% on drug claims)
8. On - staff clinical pharmacists working on behalf of our members (saved over$3M last year in the Captive)
9. PBM included in the Captive
10. Direct provider contracts
11. Springbuk - The Captive’s data health intelligence platform provides you with more real-time and immediate visibility and insights into your population’s health

Dental Insurance

Dental Insurance is one of the benefits most requested by employees. Many employers provide dental insurance for their employees, but a growing number of employers are offering this as a voluntary benefit that is paid 100% by the employee through payroll deductions. Most dental plans provide full coverage with a 100% benefit for preventive exams & cleanings, an 80% benefit for basic services such as fillings and root canals, and 50% benefit for major services and prosthodontics such as dentures, crowns, etc.

Some dental insurance companies provide a dental buy-up plan which allows the employer to purchase a base plan, while employees purchase additional benefits as needed. Another newer option for dental insurance is a dual optionplan that allows each employee to choose a basic plan or a more comprehensive plan based on their individual needs. This is a voluntary benefit, which means that each employee receives the necessary coverage to meet their and their family's needs.

Short Term Disability

Short Term Disability or "Paycheck Insurance" is a benefit that no one can afford to be without. Becoming disabled through an injury or sickness can mean a significant loss of income. Disability insurance is a form of insurance that provides a person who becomes disabled with income to cover living expenses, which will continue in spite of the disability. Although an employer cannot afford to pay an employee while he is unable to work, a Short Term Disability Plan is an inexpensive way to ensure that the employee will still be able to maintain an adequate lifestyle during a disabling illness or injury.

A typical Short Term Disability plan starts to pay benefits after the employee has been off work for one or two weeks, and pays benefits up to 3 months (13 weeks) or 6 months (26 weeks). If the employer also provides a Long Term Disability policy, the benefits for the Long Term Disability will begin after the Short Term benefits have been exhausted.

Long Term Disability

Long Term Disability is similar to Short Term Disability in that it pays benefits to the employee while he is unable to work due to a disability. However, Long Term Disability does not usually pay benefits until the employee has been out-of-work for 3 months or more (this elimination period usually coincides with the ending date of the Short Term Disability policy). In addition, Long Term Disability benefits often continue until retirement age, if the disability continues until retirement.

A typical Long Term Disability plan begins to pay benefits after the employee has been off work for 3 or 6 months, and pays benefits for several years or until retirement age, depending on the policy.

Vision Care Insurance

Vision Care Insurance is frequently requested by employees. The likely reason for this is the fact that 60% of us wear some form of corrective eyewear. With a statistic like that, it is a sure bet that most employees would use vision insurance if it were provided. For this reason, many employers offer vision plans on a voluntary basis. The cost of a vision plan ranges from about $7 to $10 per month for single coverage. With the benefit of a Section 125 plan, the pre-tax savings brings the cost down to about $5 to $7 per month. That's less than $100 per year, and one visit to the optometrist and a pair of glasses or contacts will cost much more than that!

Most vision plans are designed with a small co-pay for the exam itself and a co-pay for the materials (frames, lenses, contacts). With low out of pocket costs, it is a plan that employees can easily appreciate.

The Hatcher Agency offers Legal Shield to our clients on a voluntary basis. Employees who elect this coverage will have access to create a will and update it every year at no additional charge. For our Arkansas clients, our Legal Shield firm is the Lisle Rutledge Law firm. Legal Shield has made agreements with law firms throughout the United States to ensure their members have great service. With Legal Shield, members have access to advice, 24/7 emergency assistance, as well as other coverages. Please speak to your Hatcher Agency team for more information on this valuable piece of your benefits package!