If you have a business partner or are a closely held corporation, a buy-sell agreement provides protection in the event of death or disability and enables you to buy out your partner’s interest/shares. This important coverage can help avoid the need for financing or negatively impacting company liquidity and is important for tax purposes or where children are involved.

An FSA is a type of savings account that allows employees to contribute a portion of their pre-tax earnings to pay for qualified health care and dependent day care expenses. Your employees can use it to supplement premium-based health insurance coverage. Plus, the more they take advantage of this benefit, the less you’ll pay for payroll taxes, including Social Security and Medicare. Depending on your state, a flexible spending account program may also reduce the cost of your workers’ compensation insurance.

Group dental insurance is one of the most popular health insurance benefits you can offer your employees. Many employers offer dental insurance as an optional benefit that is paid 100% by the employee through payroll deductions, and participating employees choose the level of coverage that’s best for themselves and their families.

Most dental plans provide full coverage with a 100% benefit for preventive exams and cleanings, an 80% benefit for basic services, such as fillings and root canals, and a 50% benefit for major services and prosthodontics, such as dentures, crowns, etc.

Some dental insurance companies provide a dental buy-up plan which allows you to purchase a base plan, while employees purchase additional benefits as needed. Another newer option for dental insurance is a dual option plan that allows each employee to choose a basic plan or a more comprehensive plan based on their needs.

If an accident or illness prevents an employee from working for an extended period of time, the financial impact can be substantial. Long-term-disability insurance provides your employees with a portion of their salary if they’re unable to work for a longer period—typically a period of over six months. Flexible plan design options and benefit alternatives are available to meet specific needs. This valuable protection is available with low-cost, tax-deductible premiums.

Your employees rely on receiving a steady income. If an employee suffers an accident or illness that interrupts that income, it can have a serious impact on the employee and his or her family. Short-term-disability insurance provides your employees with a portion of their salary if they are unable to work for a short period—typically three to six months. An affordable, flexible short-term insurance plan can be valuable to both the employer and employee.

In today’s environment, offering affordable health insurance benefits that truly meet your needs and those of your employees can be difficult. The regulations, laws, and offerings make the choices complex and hard to understand. You want to offer the best possible plan for your employees, yet it must also be cost-effective for your business.

We have a wide array of health insurance options available in your area. Through VPA’s partnership with Premier Consulting Associates and our insurance providers, we’ll work with you to understand your goals and provide you with affordable options that will best meet the needs of your employees.

A health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) is a tax-advantaged benefit that allows both employees and employers to save on health care costs. HRAs are employer-funded plans that reimburse employees for qualified medical expenses. As the employer, you’re allowed to claim a tax deduction for the reimbursements made through your HRA, and reimbursement dollars received by your employees are generally tax-free.

You decide how much you will put into the plan, and your employees can request reimbursement for actual medical expenses incurred up to that amount. All employees in the same class must receive the same HRA contribution.

The primary requirements for an HRA are:

• The plan must be funded solely by the employer and cannot be funded by salary reduction.

• A High Deductible Health Plan must be in place.

• The plan may only provide benefits for substantiated medical expenses.

An HRA is one of the most flexible types of employee benefit plans and can be designed to suit the specific needs of your business and your employees.

If your employees have a High Deductible Health Plan, a Health Savings Account (HSA) can help cover their out-of-pocket costs. An HSA is like a personal savings account, but it can only be used for qualified health care expenses. HSAs also offer some important tax advantages. Contributions to HSAs generally aren’t subject to federal income tax, and the earnings in the account grow tax-free. Plus, unspent money in an HSA rolls over at the end of the year, so it’s available for future health expenses.

Account funds are used to cover medical expenses before the plan deductible has been met. Once the annual deductible has been met, coverage resembles conventional insurance, typically in the form of a preferred provider organization (PPO) with little-to-no cost sharing for in-network services, and limits on total out-of-pocket costs.

Group life insurance is an essential part of most employee benefits packages. Your employees will appreciate the value of life coverage and the additional security it provides to their families.

There are a wide variety of optional life insurance plan designs that make it easy to create a solution that’s right for your business and your employees. Optional coverages include voluntary life insurance, supplemental life coverage, accidental death and dismemberment policies, and dependent life insurance. The premium paid for group life insurance is generally a business deduction, and this stand-alone contract is usually less expensive than the life coverage provided with medical/health insurance.

A multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA) is an arrangement where a group of employers combines their contributions in a self-contributing benefits plan for their employees. The employers make contributions to the plan based on the number of employees they have and the estimated costs associated with each employee.

A multiple employer welfare arrangement is a good way for smaller employers to get group health and other insurance benefits for their employees. By pooling their contributions together, these smaller employers are better positioned to offer the best benefits packages from insurance companies due to economies of scale. Typically, a MEWA will purchase stop loss insurance to limit liability.

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services individuals turning age 65 today have almost a 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care. The good news is people are living longer; and long-term care insurance has become increasingly important to employees.

Long-term care is delivered either in a facility or at home when an individual needs assistance with activities of daily living, such as bathing and dressing, due to an accident, illness or advancing age.

Most long-term care expenses are not covered by Social Security or Medicare, Medicare Supplement (“Medigap”), or private health insurance. Medicaid pays for nearly half of all nursing home care, but you must meet federal poverty guidelines and may have to spend down most of your assets to qualify

A group vision insurance plan is inexpensive for employers to offer, and it’s a benefit that employees value highly. Basic health insurance often provides coverage for routine eye examinations, but it usually doesn’t include any benefit for frames, lenses or contact lenses. A separate group vision plan helps close this gap in coverage.