Voluntary Benefits

Employee benefits can be one of the largest expenditures and investments that companies make. Many employees may not fully understand the details and value of their employer offered benefit plans. Oswald’s E3 Services Division (Engage, Educate, Enroll) addresses the needs employers have and helps employees understand and maximize their available benefits. Our internal team engages one-on-one with employees to provide needs-based education on the optimization of voluntary benefits enrollment that will provide the best value to them and their families.

Voluntary Benefits

We also work with organizations on supplemental voluntary benefits as another way to address employee needs. These worksite benefits can be advantageous for both employees and employers.  They may be cost-effective solutions to employees to help offset out of pocket medical expenses that may not be covered by the employer plan. Most often the payments are made directly to employees to assists in paying for needs that arise during a covered incident. Common coverages we work with would include:

• Disability Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Accident Insurance
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Cancer Insurance
• Hospital Indemnity

Oswald works with insurance companies to offer these programs with limited or no underwriting requirements. This means that, regardless of a family’s current or past health status, they could enroll in essential coverage that might be difficult to secure on their own.

Advantages for Employers:

• Offering additional benefits incurs no direct premium to employers. This will help employers control rising health care costs.
• Enhancing employee total rewards options helps to attract and retain top talent.
• Our team will take on the task of educating employees on the details of additional benefit options to identify programs that best fit their needs and improve participation in wellness initiatives.

Advantages for Employees:

• Flexibility to choose from benefits that work for them and their family.
• Voluntary coverages can fill in gaps that may be present in an employer-offered health plan.
• Many times, when these coverages are offered on a larger scale by an employer, it will be at a lower rate than if an employee were to go out and purchase the same coverage privately.

Disability Insurance

DI or Disability Income Insurance is designed to protect an employee’s paycheck if they become unable to work due to an accident or sickness that occurred outside of work. If an employee is unable to work to make a living, this coverage can compensate for partial or full loss of wages. These plans can be customized to each employee.

Life Insurance

Many employers offer group life insurance. However, most often this policy is not portable. Should there be a change in employment status a person may be vulnerable without life insurance. If a policyholder dies while the policy is in force, the beneficiaries will receive a one-time cash lump sum. Employees may also have the option to purchase policies for their working spouse or child.

Accident Insurance

Accidents can happen at any time to anyone. There are frequently out of pocket medical expenses that come up with these occurrences. These expenses could be anything from hospital services like X-rays, Emergency Room visits, outpatient therapies and follow up care. This coverage benefit can be used for a multitude of incurred costs.

Critical Illness Insurance

This coverage pays a lump sum dollar amount that supplements any other major medical coverage. If an employee is diagnosed with a covered critical illness this payment can be used to cover any costs associated with treatment such as deductibles, diagnostic tests, transportation, etc. Typically covered illnesses would be a heart attack, stroke, coronary artery disease, major organ failure, cancer.

Cancer Insurance

This is plainly a very specific type of indemnity that only pertains to a cancer diagnosis. While specific policies may vary, most common forms of cancer are covered by such a policy. A cash benefit is paid for costs like daily living expenses and treatments to help keep your mind at ease during an already stressful time.

Hospital Indemnity

Also referred to as Hospitalization Insurance covers out of pocket needs related to any sort of hospital stay. This can apply to ER visits, outpatient surgery, doctor appointments or other medical services.

Our job at Oswald as Benefit Advisors and Administrators is to minimize the cost to employers while at the same time educating employees on how to best use the voluntary benefits plans available to them. With supplemental coverages offered the goal is in the event of an incident, an employee can focus or recovery and getting well, rather than stressing over finances. These plans can be customized based on the perceived needs of today and whatever may come.