Specially Funded Products

Stop-Loss Insurance - Medical and Dental benefits do not always have to be paid for with conventional funding methods.  For example, if a group is large enough and financially sound enough, insurance coverage can be purchased and the risk shared more by both the insurance company and the insured.  This method of funding is termed Partially Self-Insured, as the risk is identified and costs stated which are associated with the risk; the insured assumes its portion and the insurance company assumes theirs.

Usually associated with this sort of funding are two types of insurance an employer would be interested in purchasing to offset larger than expected losses.  These are:

• Aggregate Stop-Loss Insurance - Should the total of all expected claims for a policy year exceed a predetermined limit, this insurance would protect the employer from an unlimited exposure.
• Specific Stop-Loss Insurance - Should any individual claim exceed a predetermined limit; this insurance would protect the employer for an unlimited exposure while not further affecting the Aggregate Stop-Loss.

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) Usually the most sought-after worksite product simply because nearly everyone has been touched by someone affected by cancer. Many people who have medical insurance know it will pay for cancer treatment, but don’t think about the many things that are not paid for. Cancer benefits are paid in the form of cash back to the participant to offset some of these mentioned ineligible expenses.

Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) Occasionally an employer is not willing to sponsor or pay for a STD group plan so this is the perfect answer for those who want something personally. A limited voluntary Short Term Disability product that is designed for the individual needs and payroll deducted.

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) This product has been in use much longer than both the H S A and the HRA, and encompasses more benefits. There are three levels of benefits which can be offered in an FSA, all funded with pretax monies:

• Premiums for the health insurance plan that are payroll deducted from employee checks
• Predetermined un-reimbursed medical expenses incurred by the employee/dependent
• Predetermined dependent child care for an employee

The popularity of this type of funding has declined due to the fact if you don’t use all of the money you set aside in your FSA for the calendar year, you forfeit that money back to the plan with no way of recovering it. The “use it or lose it” concept is applied.

401K This product...