Workplace Benefit Programs
Workplace Benefit Features and Options
Employer-sponsored long-term care benefit programs can be 100% voluntary (the employee pays the entire premium), or fully or partially funded by your company. Some of the main features and options of company sponsored long-term care plans include:
Flexibility
There are no discrimination rules for long-term care insurance. Employers can offer this benefit to some classes of employees (as determined by many criteria such as position, years of service, department, etc) and not others, or pay the premium for some classes of employees and not others.Family Eligibility
Coverage can be extended from employees to their spouses, partners, parents and parents-in-law, as well as to retirees and spouses of retirees.Premium Discounts
Discounts vary by insurance company, but most offer employees and family members receive a premium discount of between a 5 - 10%.Simplified Medical Underwriting
When participation requirements are met, or an employer funds a base plan or a part of a base plan, simplified medical underwriting allows qualifying employees and spouses to apply for coverage without disclosing medical prescriptions, height or weight, or answering most medical questions on the application. In addition, your medical records remain confidential and do not get reviewed by the insurance company. Simplified underwriting allows people to receive coverage that would not be available outside an employer sponsored plan.Portability of Coverage
Individual long-term care insurance plans purchased through the workplace are owned by the employee and are completely portable. Should an employee leave the company and want to maintain their coverage, the insurer simply changes the billing address to the employee's home. All discounts and underwriting concessions remain in force.Level Premiums
Policies are written on a level premium basis. That is, premiums are determined based on the age of the applicant at the time the policy is issued. They cannot be increased unless they are changes for all policyholders with the same policy in a given state, and approved by the State Insurance Department.If premiums are ever increased, the policyholder will pay the increased rate based on the age they were when coverage was originally purchased, not the age when the increase occurs.
Executive Carve-Out Options
Company owners and key executives may be older, and thus closer to thinking about needing to own long-term care plans for themselves and their spouses. Plans can be tailored to cover key employees on a premium-discounted tax-advantages basis.Special riders are available for executives such as Return of Premium at Death that returns all premiums paid by the company to the employee's estate less benefits paid when the employee dies. Accelerated payment options allow companies to provide paid up benefits to key employees in 5 years, 10 years or when the employee reached age 65.
Executive carve-out programs reward and provide peace of mind to those who have made special contributions to the success of the company.