Every good employer knows their most valuable asset is their employees – and the pandemic has made supporting employee wellbeing more important than ever.
Providing your workforce with comprehensive health insurance can deliver several benefits to your employees and your business, particularly at a time when health is a number one priority for many people across Ireland.
But with insurance premiums, plan availability and specific benefits continuously changing in the Irish market, ensuring you have the right plan to meet the needs of your employees and your business, while staying within budget, can be extremely complex.
We explore the benefits of offering corporate health insurance, the importance of reviewing annually, and the plethora of options available for offering insurance to your employees.
Why Offer Corporate Health Insurance?
Including health insurance in your employee benefits program can make a hugely positive contribution to your company culture. In an increasingly remote world, establishing a caring, supportive company culture can be challenging – and providing the right health insurance is a great way to show employees you care about their health and wellbeing.
Not only will this help to reduce absenteeism by supporting your employees to get back on their feet quickly if they become ill, but it can also strengthen your ability to both attract and retain talent. More and more, we’re seeing employee benefits become a key consideration when accepting a job offer and, for many, health insurance is one of the most important non-remunerative benefits when looking for a new role.
But it’s not just about caring for employees when they become unwell. Many corporate health insurance plans include a range of ongoing benefits to continuously support health and wellbeing – such as maternity benefits, dental care and mental health supports.
So, you can empower your employees to be at their best.
Review Your Plan Annually
So far this year, we’ve already seen each of Ireland’s three health insurance providers – Vhi, Irish Life Health and Laya Healthcare – increase their prices. Often, businesses will select their health insurance plan and allow it to auto-renew each year, without scrutinising the changes to the costs and benefits in their policy.
Reviewing your corporate health insurance plan is crucial to keeping costs low and ensuring your coverage and benefits are still fit for purpose. The benefits offered under each plan are changing constantly – and so are your employees’ needs. Auto-renewing year-on-year may therefore result in you paying over the odds for health insurance that no longer meets the needs of your workforce.
Changing health insurance providers may sound like an administrative burden, but it can often pay dividends to both your employees and your bottom-line. At HCC.ie, our goal is to make finding the right plan for your business, and implementing any change in policy or providers, as simple and stress-free as possible.
Your Options
The possibilities for offering corporate health insurance are vast, making it especially complex to find the right fit for your business. Start by establishing what is important to you and, before you select your preferred plan, make sure you ask yourself the following questions:
- Do we want to offer employees one fixed plan, or let them choose from a list of pre-selected plans?
- How long will our employees’ initial enrolment period be and how long should new employees have to wait before joining the scheme?
- Do we want to offer health coverage only, dental coverage only, or both?
- Should employees have the option to extend their cover to immediate family?
Once your business’ key stakeholders have agreed answers to the above, you need to decide how you wish to offer health insurance to your employees. This will largely depend on your budget – there’s a scheme available for every budget:
- Company Paid: Your organisation pays for your employees’ health cover as a benefit of employment. Most insurance providers offer preferential rates for these schemes.
- Partially Company Paid: Alternatively, you can share the cost of providing health insurance with the employee. Employees will generally need to opt-in to this type of scheme, and many insurers offer preferential rates.
- Advice Only: You can also negotiate a health plan package that individuals can choose to join and pay for themselves. This option may also be given a discretionary discount, so the employee is getting the benefit of a more competitively priced plan without your organisation having to pay for it.
Once you’ve established your preferred options and method for offering health insurance – or reviewed your current practices, if you already have a plan in place – you can start evaluating and comparing plans.
Start Comparing Plans
This is no small task. There are over 320 plans available in the Irish market, each with their own levels of cover, benefits and premiums to consider. The plan that works for your business will very much depend on your organisation’s requirements, employee needs, and budget – it’s certainly not a case of ‘one-size-fits-all’.
At HCC.ie, we work closely with Irish businesses to help find the right corporate health insurance plan for them.
By first understanding your specific needs and priorities, and comparing all plans available on the market, our experts can help you find your ideal plan – reducing the time, resource and hassle of comparing health insurance options.
So, you can provide the best support for your workforce’s health and wellbeing, without losing focus on what you do best: running your business.
Whether you’re looking to review your health insurance or take it out for the first time, you can trust our dedicated team of health insurance experts to find a plan with the right level of cover, benefits and costs for your organisation.
Get in Touch!
Our team have several years’ experience in the health insurance market, with in-depth knowledge of all plans available from the three health insurance providers - Irish Life Health, Laya and Vhi. Our goal is always to meet your unique business needs while controlling costs, so you can rest assured you have the right plan in place to support your workforce.
As well as helping you to find the right plan, we’ll also allocate a dedicated corporate representative to your organisation, who will regularly service and manage your account to provide a personal service to your employees.
Get in touch to arrange a complimentary initial review with one of our friendly health insurance experts using the form below. Alternatively, you can reach us at 01 498 0515 and support@hcc.ie.