benefits

Offering short-term and long-term disability to your employees can help give you a leg up on the competition when hiring great people. But how exactly do short and long-term disability work? What are the differences? And how can you use them for the benefit of your business?

Short-term disability insurance

Short-term disability lets an employee get paid a portion of their wages if they’re unable to work for a while. It makes sure that an employee can still cover their living expenses if they have a serious illness or injury.

Some conditions that can be covered by short-term disability are:

• Back problems
• Arthritis
• Childbirth

Short-term disability coverage can last anywhere from 9 weeks to two years, depending on the policy. However, short-term disability payments usually won’t kick in until about a week or two after the employee is unable to work.

Once short-term disability runs out for an employee, it may be time to move them into long-term disability if they still can’t come to work.

Long-term disability insurance

Long-term disability is an extended version of short-term disability. This benefit can help if there is an injury or illness that keeps someone from working for an extended period of time (you guessed it – depending on the policy).

First, long-term disability usually covers 50-70 percent of an employee’s salary. The typical length of long-term disability is 5 – 10 years, but a worker can claim disability as long as they are disabled  until they’re 65.

Conditions that are usually covered by long-term disability are:

• Cancer
• Musculoskeletal disorders
• Nervous system disorders
• Accident injuries

Additionally, mental health issues can also qualify as a disability.

Some details can still be a little fuzzy when you’re deciding whether to offer short-term disability insurance, long-term disability insurance, or both to your employees. Our insurance agents are professionals at figuring out the particular details of what will fit your business. So, give us a call at 404.352.0304 or fill out our online form to start getting customized quotes on benefits that could be crucial to your business!

What does an employee need to claim disability?

Some employers require the employee to work for them for a certain amount of time before being eligible for the benefit. Some employers require that the employee use all of their sick days before they qualify for disability. Some employers require full-time status or even additional paperwork for the employee to claim disability.

When you apply for short and long-term disability insurance, your carrier may also place certain exclusions on pre-existing conditions or conditions where disability won’t really help the employee’s condition. So, it really just depends on how you would want it to work for your individual business.

How is disability insurance different than workers comp?

Workers comp is specifically different from disability benefits because the former takes care of injuries or serious illness that happens at work or due to work-related activities. Disability benefits are for injuries that happen outside of work but are still severe enough to put someone out of commission for a while. There are massive benefits for your business should you choose to offer disability benefits.

Why should I offer short or long-term disability?

Companies that offer disability insurance and even other group benefits have major advantage when they’re hiring employees. It can really help you show that you value your employees.

So, why wait to improve your business from the inside out? Connect with one of our insurance professionals today, so that they can get to know you, your business, and what will make your employees the happiest! Just give us a call or fill out our online quote form to get in touch with our team.

Sources:

https://www.patriotsoftware.com/payroll/training/blog/difference-short-term-long-term-disability-insurance-coverage-qualify/

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-long-term-disability-insurance-1918178

https://www.officevibe.com/blog/10-statistics-compensation-benefits

If you’re a small business owner in Atlanta, you might be considering offering group health insurance for your employees. Unfortunately, all the terms, abbreviations, acronyms, and so on can be bamboozling. In considering what sort of plan you want to offer, you’re wondering what the difference is between an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) plan and PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) plans. Well, apart from having different letters, that is. Anyways, we’ll explain what HMOs and PPOs are and why they’re different.

What is a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plan?

One type of Atlanta group health insurance is offering an HMO plan to your employees.

Basically, the Health Maintenance Organization creates a network of healthcare providers that work with them. These providers have agreed to be paid set amounts for the services they provide. This means that the HMO is able to keep costs fairly low for people who are on these plans, making it an affordable health insurance option. The premiums and copays (fees for visiting a doctor or professional) can be more affordable than those of a PPO plan.

However, there’s a catch:

Remember how we mentioned the network of healthcare providers? If your employees are on an HMO insurance plan, they can only go to doctors who are in that network in order for expenses to be covered. They can’t see a doctor who is out-of-network unless it’s a complete medical emergency.

So, employees could see lower costs as far as premium, copay, and out-of-pocket expenses, but they lose the flexibility of being able to see whichever doctor they please.

Another thing about HMO plans is that the employee will most likely to be required to choose a Primary Care Provider from the network provided. This doctor will become their doctor, who they’ll go to for check-ups, when they get sick, and so on. And if there’s ever a time that they need to see a professional, the Primary Care Physician would refer them to a professional in-network. (The referral is a must – kind of like a Golden Ticket.) The professional’s care would be covered after the copay and deductible are met by the employee.

So, HMOs could work for your employees if they’d rather pay lower premiums and they’re okay with being limited to choosing doctors in the network. Generally, HMOs can work for people who don’t need more than basic care in the form of checkups, vaccinations, and so on.

(We can help you get the Atlanta group health insurance that’s right for your business. Get started with your quotes by filling out our online form or giving us a call today.)

What is a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan?

Another Atlanta group health insurance option is to offer a PPO plan to your employees.

A PPO plan also consists of a network of healthcare providers, and these providers have agreed to offer set rates for their services to members. However, the employee would have the option to go to a doctor or hospital that’s out of that network. (Although choosing one of the in-network providers will most likely cost less.) Basically, you can go to any doctor, in-network or out-of-network.

These plans offer more flexibility and options as far as doctors go, but the premiums can be higher, as can the copays. (But, like we mentioned, choosing an in-network doctor can help save money.) These plans usually require enrollees to pay a co-pay when they visit a provider, and there may be an annual deductible that needs to be met before insurance will cover certain claims. There are more options with these plans and it can be easier to see a provider when away from home or if there’s an urgent medical situation.

Another way that these plans offer more flexibility is that the employee doesn’t have to choose a primary care physician and don’t need a referral to see a professional. They can just go without needing a primary care physician to act as a liaison. If you offer a Preferred Provider Organization plan as group health insurance for your small business, employees would most like to be able to keep their current doctor, which is helpful if they wouldn’t want to switch.

So, PPOs can provide more flexibility and choices for your employees since they don’t have to visit an in-network health care professional, but they’re often a little more expensive. It’s a trade.

And that’s the difference between an HMO plan and a PPO plan. When selecting Atlanta group health insurance for your small business, it’s important to consider what your employees would prefer and how the plan will help them get the care they need. Your employees need group health insurance that will work for them.

If you’re looking for small business health insurance, we can help. We’ll go over your options for Atlanta group health insurance and help you find the right benefits package for your employees and your business. We can also help you get workers’ comp insurance, general liability insurance, and more. Get started with your Atlanta business insurance quotes by filling out our online quote form or calling us today.

Sources:

https://www.humana.com/all-products/understanding-insurance/what-is-hmo

https://www.humana.com/all-products/understanding-insurance/hmo-vs-ppo

https://www.humana.com/health-and-well-being/what-is-ppo