We Mean What We Say
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 |
posted by Lori Power |
Posted in: life insurance, hsa, health spending accounts, group benefits, group coverage, group insurance, benefits, insurance coverage, insurance plan, insurance |
I was listening to the radio and an advertisement came on for Lube-X narrated by a fellow with an excellent, what I would refer to as a ‘western’ voice: “We say it. We mean it. And more importantly, we do it,” he intoned at the end of the spiel.
How important is that in a world full of commercials and mass media? A lot of companies ‘say it’ and obviously they ‘mean it’ but it wasn’t the ‘we do it’ that grabbed me … it was the ‘more importantly’ part of his slogan, because he is right. It is one thing to say it, but it is much more important to do it. Said another way, you can put the worm on the hook to bait the fish and you can catch the fish, but can you prepare the fish in a meal that is both edible and likable? That truly is the challenge.
We can … we are right there with Lube-X … we say we create “easy, affordable, flexible benefit plans” and, you know what? We do!
Our plans follow the KIS (keep it simple) approach and many initially accuse us of being too easy because they have been conditioned to complication in the benefits world … but when broken down, benefits are not complicated.
Our plans are affordable. We consistently (yet another great word that has meaning) provide savings for our clients. These are not just words that sound good, these are words with meaning that we put into action.
Flexible. There are not many brokerage companies that can claim they offer benefit plans to single, incorporated professional corporations as well as large multi-nationals. We do. And we do this while always keeping our services consistent. We build to suit. We listen to our clients and provide benefits that suit their needs because each company’s benefit plan is as unique as a finger print and should be treated as such.
Are you unique?
Of course you are!
Don’t you deserve a benefit package that is as unique as your business approach?
Of course you, and your employees, do!
Give us a call to learn we really do mean what we say!
Stop-Loss Prescription Coverage
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 |
posted by Lori Power |
Posted in: Stop-loss, stop loss, coverage, insurance, hsa, health spending account |
Stop-Loss Prescription Coverage
Earlier this year we were pleased to release a stand-alone, stop-loss insurance specifically designed to cover catastrophic prescription needs up to $25,000 per person in the household.
Prescription stop-loss is intended for the high cost, unplanned catastrophic eventualities, not the everyday antibiotic pharmaceuticals or annual dental cleanings.
Unlike other aspects of the health care system, there is no universal coverage in place for prescription drugs. Nevertheless, they are a common household expense, with over 300 million prescriptions filled each year—about 10 for each man, woman and child. Although some employers may consider purchasing stop-loss coverage an unnecessary expense compared to more traditional style benefit plans, there are significant savings to be had by strategically building a benefit plan on sound principals of coverage and cost containment, including stop-loss coverage.
Results vary from one province to another but in a recent analysis, we compared a fully insured benefit plan with that which utilized the best providers for each category of coverage. This plan looked at Life Insurance, AD&D, Dependent Life Insurance, Long-Term Disability (LTD), Prescription Drug (Rx) coverage, Extended Health Care (EHC), Emergency Travel and Dental Care. No Short-Term Disability, no Critical Illness, and no Vision Care service.
Apples to apples on the plan design, we looked at the same insurance carrier for the Life, AD&D, Dependent Life and LTD. We utilized at a self-insured, administrative services only plan (ASO) for EHC and Dental; used the RBC Group Travel for the Emergency Travel Assistance and our new Stop Loss coverage for the pharmaceutical coverage.
The Emergency Medical Assistance our plan offered, through RBC as a stand-alone product, is $2.89 for a single employee and $6.59 for family. Due to volume pricing we are able to offer this at a significant discount to anyone else in the marketplace.
Using an ASO product for health and dental means the costs are based on claims plus administration. If there are no claims, there are no costs to the company. There are no sign-up fees, no transactional fees and no monthly costs. Simply administration on claims. An insured plan for these benefits charges on the premium regardless of usage and the typical savings for a company using an ASO product, depending on circumstances, is roughly 15-20%.
Factoring in the Prescription Stop-loss, non-medically underwritten at $26 per single and $61 per family per month, we were able to save this company 22% over the fully insured plan, with no loss of coverage.
One may think using so many carriers/providers would complicate the benefit plan but that is not so. These are our provider partners behind the scene and to the end user, our client, it is one plan, working to ensure the best coverage is available from the very best providers of that coverage. Segmenting a plan like this ensures accuracy in pricing for each component of the benefit plan and allows our clients to see and budget their costs from one year to the next with little to no surprises, while at the same time, ensuring the best coverage is available for their employees.
ROI of Benefits
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 |
posted by Lori Power |
Posted in: benefits, benefit plans, dental, hsa, health spending accounts |
ROI of Benefits
Life is all about choices and to have choices, you need to have options. Often we don't consider having options when it comes to paying for dental or health care services. However, not knowing those options can mean we are paying far more out of pocket for those services then we need to.
For example, a client owns a business and requires dental work in the amount of $3,588. The client has several options for coverage, but the primary focus from the client’s point-of-view is not paying out of pocket for the service so they are referred to Medicard, a patient finance company. Essentially, a credit card specifically for health care services.
The dental services are performed and Medicard takes care of the bill, treating it as a loan in the client’s personal name, not their corporate name. It is repayable over 60-months with the client paying $105.17 per month and being charged:
• 21.95% annual interest, which amounts to $2,719.48 over the life of the loan (at this point many will point out that this client does not have to continue the loan for 60-months, they can repay it at any time. True, but anyone following the financial skills of the average Canadian, know without my saying, that MOST will not repay early, they simply cannot afford to.)
• As well as the one time grantor’s loan finance charge of $215.28
By the time this $3,588 dental bill is repaid, five years AFTER the service, the client would be out-of-pocket $6,522.76! Almost double the original bill. It’s like continuing to pay for a sofa that has long since gone out of style and been sold it in a garage sale.
There is, of course another way, better way, the Quikcard way.
The same dental bill of $3,588 can be funded through their company Quikcard account with corporate money and NO sign-up fees. Health and dental services provided in Canada (outside the province of Quebec) are considered non-taxable, so the company does not have tax consequences of paying for this on behalf of the owner (also considered an employee).
The claim is issued and there is:
• A 12% administration fee charged on the dental bill, amounting to $430.56.
• GST charged on the administration fee, $21.53.
The grand total of the claim treated in this fashion is $4,040.09 creating a savings of $2,473.67 over the Medicard!
Savings are savings, no matter how you slice it … but let’s take it just one step further. The $2,473 is not only personal savings for this client, but because the Quikcard account is in the company name, the full amount of the dental bill becomes a 100% corporate tax deduction instead of the client having to repay the Medicard loan personally with after tax dollars, where in order to pay the $105 each month, the client had to earn $143!
Do you know about the choices you have in covering these services?
