Purchasing group health insurance for your employees can be a complicated process. Every company is unique and its requirements and needs are different. The health insurance needs of a white-collar advertising company will be different from a primarily blue-collar manufacturing company.
If you run a manufacturing company, then there are certain key aspects that you need to keep in mind before purchasing group health insurance for your company. These factors will help you to make the most out of your policy in the most cost-effective way possible.
In this article, we’ll cover four of the most important factors to keep in mind when buying group health insurance for a manufacturing company.
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How Much Does the Group Policy Cost?
The first aspect that you need to consider is how cost-effective the policy is. Keeping the average age of your workforce in mind and the sum insured that you want, how much premium do you need to pay per member? The premium is the total cost of a group health plan which needs to be paid to the insurance company on an annual basis.
The higher the sum insured and the average age of policy members, the higher the sum insured will be. When looking for a group policy, you should compare the premiums offered by different insurance companies while offering the same coverage amount and benefits.
While deciding your budget for the health policy, you should also ensure that the sum insured that each employee is receiving is adequate. You don’t want to avail of a health policy that does not completely cover your employees, because this can be counter-productive and work out to be more expensive in the long run.
Further, if the group plan turns out to be expensive for the company to bear on its own, it can ask employees to contribute part of the premiums while the company covers the rest. This can be a win-win situation for both the company as well as the employees.
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What are the Features and Benefits?
The final cost of a group plan can depend on a variety of factors such as the features and benefits being provided as part of the policy. Before opting for a policy, it is best to thoroughly check the terms and conditions laid out in the policy document. You need to make sure that the cost of the policy is worth the benefits.
A group policy can include a number of features. Some of the most common features are no waiting period, coverage of pre-existing illnesses from day one, maternity cover, no-claim bonuses, and so on. All of these features will be covered in the policy document.
If there are any features that you want but are not covered in the policy document, then you can speak to the insurance company about the additional cost of availing of such features.
As a manufacturing company, one of the main features that you need to look for is whether workplace injuries are covered by the policy.
Workplace injuries can happen at any time, especially in a factory. While employers take all the necessary precautions to ensure such eventualities do not occur, accidents can still happen.
In such circumstances, having a comprehensive health insurance plan which covers injuries can be crucial and can help the company save a lot of money on emergency care and rehabilitation of the injured employee.
How Close are the Network Hospitals?
There are two ways to make an insurance claim in health insurance. You can opt for a reimbursement or a cashless claim. A cashless claim is much more convenient than a reimbursement claim, however, a cashless claim can only be made if the policyholder is treated at a network hospital.
A cashless claim means that the insurance company directly pays the hospital for the cost of the treatment. In a cashless claim, the patient does not have to pay the cost of the treatment from their own pocket before being reimbursed by the insurance company.
Hence, the employee does not have to bear the burden of paying the entire cost while also being hospitalized. It also lessens the uncertainty of the insurance claim not being approved by the insurance company.
A network hospital is a hospital that has entered into an agreement with the insurance company to offer cashless claims to policyholders of the insurance company.
Before opting for a group health plan, a manufacturing company needs to check whether the insurance company has network hospitals that are close to the manufacturing sites of the company. This ensures that during an emergency, the employee can be taken quickly to a network hospital making the process as hassle-free as possible.
How Flexible is the Policy?
Health insurance for manufacturing companies needs to be as flexible as possible. This is because the particular needs of every employee are different. Some employees may need less sum insured while paying a lower premium while others may need maternity cover since they may be expecting soon. A group plan needs to be designed in such a way that it caters to the unique needs of each policyholder.
Nowadays, most insurance companies offer flexible features in their group policy. They offer a number of add-ons that can be availed by members of the policy depending on their needs. This makes the group plan highly useful for everyone concerned. It can also help in lowering the overall cost of the policy.
As a manufacturing company, the employees that are part of your company will be highly diverse. Some employees may be white-collar while other employees may be blue-collar. For such companies, having flexibility built into the group plan can lead to a much more comprehensive cover for all employees concerned.
Wrapping Up
Corporate insurance for manufacturing companies is necessary these days.
Every company needs to provide health benefits to their employees to ensure higher retention and employee loyalty. While deciding on the best group plan for your needs, read the terms and conditions of each policy very carefully and understand the implications of the terms for your company.
There are several options available nowadays, so it can be hard to choose the right policy. Get in touch with us and we can help you pick the best policy for your needs.
