hisBBncillary health insurance is a kind of coverage that is used to supplement your traditional health insurance. The term “ancillary” means “giving additional help or support,” and that’s what ancillary health insurance is doing.
Ancillary insurance has also coverage for miscellaneous medical expenses during a hospitalization that may not be supported by your group health insurance. Examples of this coverage may have ambulance transportation, medical supplies, and drugs, such as bandages. Ancillary benefits can also give benefits outside your medical insurance like vision, dental, life, and disability insurance.
Ancillary Health Insurance Benefits
There are two types of ancillary health insurance: employer contributory benefits and voluntary benefits. With employer contributory ancillary benefits, the employer has to pay 50 to 100 percent of the premiums. With voluntary ancillary benefits, the employer has to pay 49 percent of the premiums.
Through payroll deduction, employees have to pay the premium balance left over after the employer contribution. When employees use their benefits, a claim is usually submitted, and benefits are given directly to the network-contracted provider. For life insurance claims, the claim would go to the policy’s beneficiary.
Examples of Ancillary Health Insurance
There are a number of ancillary benefits an employer can select to offer its employees. Some popular benefits are:
Dental Insurance
Dental insurance is a very common ancillary benefit. Usually, dental coverage has services related to teeth and gums, like preventive care and annual cleanings. Deductibles, coinsurance, and co-pays normally apply, and policies will vary as far as what procedures are considered preventative, major, basic, and necessary.
Vision Insurance
Vision insurance can give coverage for preventative services, like eye exams, and discounts on eyewear, like glasses, and procedures, like LASIK. Some vision benefits have deductibles and some do not; some may offer discounts on eyewear on a calendar basis, like once a year.
Group Life Insurance
Group life insurance supports employees to provide their families with financial security at the time of their death. Once the policyholder passes away, life insurance policies pay a complete sum of money to beneficiaries so that they can manage their quality of life and get ready for the future.
Many life insurance policies also provide accidental death and dismemberment benefits, which pay fixed amounts in conditions where the insured person passes away or is dismembered due to an accident.
Disability Insurance
Disability insurance is formed to replace a percentage of the income you lose. Because of your inability to get a paycheck if you become sick or harmed and are unable to work. Disability insurance can support paying for essential expenses like food, tuition, utilities, school, mortgage, and car payments.
Critical Illness Insurance
Critical illness insurance gives additional coverage for medical emergencies like heart attacks, cancer, and strokes. These critical illnesses can be unpredictable and take a higher medical cost. Critical illness insurance supports covering over and above what your health insurance policy pays.
Long-Term Care Insurance
Long-term care insurance is formed to cover long-term services and helps with a fixed daily or monthly amount for services connected with a lengthy illness or disability like a stay in a nursing home, hospice, assisted living center, or for home health care services. This is care insurance policies repay policyholders a daily or monthly amount for services to support them with activities of daily living like bathing, eating, and dressing.
Wellness Benefits
Wellness benefits are usually a great choice for employees and employers. These benefits have perks like free or discounted gym memberships, free medical screenings, smoking cessation programs, flu shots, and more. The benefit is that these practices can grow the health of employees, supporting the reduction of healthcare costs and premiums.
Pet Insurance
Pet insurance coverage supports your employees to offset expensive medical bills that their pets may accrue. They repay owners for accidents and illnesses and may even increase to cover veterinary check-ups or different wellness treatments.