Alexander City Group Health Insurance & Employee Benefits Plans

Alexander City, Alabama Large Group Health Insurance Plans

Offering large group health insurance coverage to your employees is an excellent idea for large Alexander City, Alabama companies. Providing benefits is one of the best ways to attract top-quality talent to your business. Offering insurance also helps support the workers’ physical and mental health. Many employers choose to pay a portion of the insurance premium, either for the employee only or for the employee and their dependents. If you are designated as a large employer according to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), your company will be obligated to ensure that the employee’s premium share falls within the ACA guidelines. In that scenario, the employee contribution can’t exceed 9.12 percent of their gross income (for employee-only coverage.)

Employers have ample options when selecting health plans. You can choose a preferred provider or health maintenance organization, which gives your workers the ability to reduce their expenses potentially. Because of federal requirements, any health plan must include specific essential component coverage in these broad areas:

1. Ambulatory patient services (outpatient care)
2. Emergency services
3. Hospitalization, including surgical and medical
4. Maternity and newborn care, including delivery
5. Mental health, substance use disorder services or any other pre-existing conditions
6. Prescription drugs
7. Rehabilitative services and devices
8. Laboratory services
9. Preventative and wellness services, including chronic disease management
10. Pediatric services, including dental and vision care for children under the age of 19

Alexander City, Alabama, Small Business Health Insurance Plans

Small business owners that choose to provide small business health insurance for their employees must also provide a plan that includes the ten essential components, but keep in mind that offering insurance is not required for companies with fewer than fifty full-time workers (or full-time equivalent employees.)

Small businesses that offer coverage may be eligible for tax credits and assistance in gaining access to qualified plans. Taylor Benefits Insurance can help you evaluate your choices, including participation in a multiemployer program that might reduce your cost while enhancing the benefits you can offer.

Alexander City, Alabama, Employee Benefits Plans and Employee Benefits Packages

According to recent statistics released by the Alabama Department of Labor, over eighty percent of employers offer medical insurance to their full-time workers. Furthermore, many of those companies pay a portion of the premium, and almost a quarter pay the entire cost for individual workers (although fewer pay the cost for dependents).

Another benefit popular in Alabama is paid time off. About 86 percent of businesses provide paid vacation time, but only half offer paid sick leave. While not noted in the Alabama DOL study, in many parts of the country, innovative employers are moving toward time off allowances that include the time that workers can use for either illness, vacation, medical bills or other coverage options as they determine. Such a business owners policy may result in some workers using more of their paid time off since they can take days for a vacation that might have previously been designated as “sick leave” and gone unused.

In many firms, vacation days can roll over if not used, but often sick days do not accrue the same way. The specific PTO policy is up to the company as long as it does not discriminate based on any prohibited category, such as race, gender, religion, age, etc.