As an employer, you understand the importance of taking care of your employees. Creating a sound benefits package that will provide the most for your employees while remaining fiscally responsible can sometimes be a challenge. That’s where we can help.
Group life insurance plans are a vital component of your employee benefit package. Employees appreciate the security that life insurance provides, and the cost to you is minimal. Group life insurance provides advantages such as increased employee security, loyalty, and higher morale as well as helping to reduce employee turnover. This means that the company saves money in hiring and training costs. The low group rates allow you to provide vital life insurance protection with tax deductible premiums.
Employers must examine several insurance carriers to find a good match for both employer and employees. Several of the more outstanding companies that offer group life insurance plans are Aetna, CIGNA, and Minnesota Life Insurance.
Employee Group Life
An overview of Minnesota Life Insurance’s group life plan information is briefly outlined below. Group life insurance is, for the most part, comparable from company to company and shares the following attributes:
• Coverage amounts are guaranteed based either on salary or a set amount.
• No health questions or medical exam are necessary for basic coverage.
• For coverage over and above basic coverage, a health questionnaire and/or doctor’s examination is requisite.
• Rates are not set per individual, but rather by employee groups. The larger the group of employees, the lower the rates.
• Group insurance paperwork is minimal as compared to individual coverage.
• Fees are paid via electronic transfer or payroll deduction.
• In the event that an employee leaves the company, an individual policy may be converted from group coverage.
Group life insurance policies traditionally offer term and/or permanent coverage. Basic coverage is typically provided free of charge to the employee in his benefits package. Employees may choose to upgrade their basic coverage insurance options by purchasing supplemental insurance at their own expense. Changes in family status such as a marriage, divorce, birth, or adoption also allow an employee to update or upgrade his policy. If an employee seeks a coverage increase, it may necessitate proof of insurability such as a doctor’s exam or health questionnaire.
Two similar kinds of policies are the Group Universal Life Insurance (GULI) and the Variable Group Universal Life Insurance (VGULI). The GULI accumulates cash value in addition to providing coverage, while the VGULI has options for flexible investments.
Employer Group Life
One of the primary benefits to offering your employees group life insurance is that your cost is minimal. Although policies for both permanent and term life insurance may be purchased, most companies prefer to offer their employees a term policy that lasts for the duration of their employment.
An added benefit of Minnesota Life Insurance is that our technological features allow you to lower the workload of your benefit or HR staff. Training is available to show users how to use the technology most effectively. Our technology provides:
• Life Benefits Extra – a secure online tool allowing instant access to your company’s program to include Evidence of Insurability (EOI) and claims status, forms, weekly claims and underwriting activity reports, plan-specific forms, and information regarding coverage, premiums, and beneficiaries.
• eClaims – Claims may be submitted online to improve accuracy and provide more rapid service.
• Single sign-on – The employer benefit enrollment system is directly linked to Minnesota Life so that a separate login is unnecessary. Questions and account access problems are greatly reduced.
• Stand-alone EOI – Employees of certain clients can submit online EOI. This can reduce or even eliminate paperwork, increase accuracy, protect employee health confidentiality, speed processing, and allow follow-up medical exams to be scheduled online.
• Beneficiary management – beneficiaries can be changed online at any time, and the system ensures compliance with applicable state laws to avoid incorrect beneficiary changes.
Group Life Insurance Cost
As basic coverage requires no medical exams, only age, sex, and salaries are taken into consideration when determining risk. Premium is calculated according to the average of the risk factors.
Unique Requirements
We are flexible so that we can take into consideration some unique company requirements such as grandfathering existing coverage, integration of acquisition or merger groups, coverage of VIPs or executive groups, customizing payroll or billing options, or consolidating multiple plan features into one policy.