The Real March Madness: Tax Season & Health Insurance Benefits
It’s March—and you know what that means. The madness has begun. No, we’re not talking about March Madness basketball. We’re talking about the rush of tax season, especially for businesses when it comes to making sense of tax-efficient health insurance benefits.* So, how can you create a win-win for employers and employees this tax season? Here’s a closer look at how supplemental health insurance benefits can be a slam dunk, now and all year long.
The advantages of supplemental health insurance benefits
Not all benefits are created equal. Certain supplemental health insurance plans can layer over any primary health insurance plan to provide value coverage by reimbursing employees based on the actual cost incurred. The most robust supplemental health insurance plans are fully insured and provide valuable, meaningful coverage for employees. This coverage extends to routine as well as unexpected care and provides reimbursement for in-network, out-of-network and Rx coverage. These supplemental plans also provide or extend coverage for dental and vision expenses that may not be covered under the primary health insurance plan.
Supplemental expense reimbursed plans are excepted benefits, which means they are excepted from ACA nondiscrimination and other rules, so employers can offer them to select employee classes as defined by the employer. This means such plans are ideal to meet the benefit needs or expectations of leadership and key talent or enhance coverage for specific roles or groups while still controlling overall health plan costs.
Tax-efficient* health insurance coverage
The right supplemental health insurance benefits enable employers to strategically boost compensation with tax-efficient coverage. Employers reap the financial efficiency of such plans because they can deduct the premiums under Section 105(h), as noted above. Such benefits can be a way for employers to spend less but give more in take-home value than a comparable bonus or raise.*
Expanded healthcare coverage
Innovative supplemental health insurance benefits such as, Ultimate Health® by ArmadaCare, go beyond medical care to provide reimbursement for all types of out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. This can include vision and dental, brand-name prescriptions, Executive Physicals, specialty physician matching services, emergency travel insurance, and wellness care such as prescribed massage therapy. Benefits that go beyond also strengthen the bottom line: recent research reveals that employees who are holistically healthy and supported report 74% higher satisfaction with their current job1—especially key when you consider how important top performers and leaders are to morale, productivity and the bottom line.
Powerful recruitment and retention tool
Executives and leaders have different expectations when it comes to employee benefits. Meeting them, though, can be impossible with primary plans alone. Supplemental health insurance benefits can be used to attract or reward key employees. Valuable plan features and a broad range of coverage can be differentiators that keep employees happy and focused on the job. In fact, our enrollment data shows a fourfold improvement in retention for employees who are members of an ArmadaCare plan compared to the national average.
The bottom line
This tax season doesn’t have to be madness, especially when you can layer on expense reimbursement health insurance plans like Ultimate Health® by ArmadaCare. These executive medical reimbursement plans help keep top performers healthy and productive, protect the bottom line and help companies position themselves as an employer of choice.
The ball is in your court. Learn more about Ultimate Health® by ArmadaCare.
*This is not local, state or federal tax advice as each person and each company is unique. It is recommended that you seek the independent counsel of a professional tax adviser.
The Ultimate Health supplemental health insurance policy is underwritten by Sirius America Insurance Company and Transamerica Life Insurance Company. Premiums, insurance plans, coverage and availability may vary by state. Detailed coverage, exclusions and limitations are listed in the Certificate of Insurance. Please contact us to confirm state availability.