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A Quick Guide on Group Insurance for Your Employees

Team AckoJan 17, 2024

For you, as an employer or a Human Resources executive, your employees are the most important asset for the growth of your organisation. Hence, it is important not to ignore your employee’s health and wellbeing. Nowadays, several people-first organisations are adopting employee-friendly and innovative employee benefits programs, including insuring employees with a comprehensive and inclusive group health policy. This quick guide is designed to give you an overview and help you make an informed choice regarding Employee Health Insurance.

Contents

Group insurance for your employees in an easy way
Ways to save on Employee Health Insurance
Other things to know while offering employee health insurance
Where to find health insurance plans for employees?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Group insurance for your employees in an easy way

Employee insurance, when offered the right way, can prove to be productive. To achieve this goal, the Group Insurance Scheme must be employee-centric. Here are eight important points to note while selecting employee-centric employer-provided health insurance.

1. Know what you want

Whether you are buying a product or a service; knowing what you want makes the decision-making process easier. The same is applicable for purchasing a Group Insurance Policy as well. However, here, you must know what you want as well as what your employees want, as they are the ultimate beneficiaries of the policy. Your priority might be to save cost, but that should not compromise the insurance coverage offered to the employees.

It is crucial to strike the right balance between the insurance premium payable by you and the insurance features and services offered to your employees. Thus, the insurance plan can be picked mainly based on your employees’ average age, prevalent healthcare costs in the location, and the ease with which the entire Employee Health Insurance process (from onboarding to settling claims) is handled by the insurer. All the offerings must offer value for money as per the charged premium.

2. The fine print is important

All insurance policies come with their sets of inclusions and exclusions, and terms and conditions. It is vital to read the fine print of the Group Health Insurance Plan before buying the policy. This will help you know the policy's exact scope and avoid shocks at the time of claim settlement.

For instance, some features and benefits of the plan might be a part of the base plan, while some might be available in exchange for additional payment. Details regarding limits (for example, sub-limits, room rent, etc.) and periods (for example, waiting period, grace period, etc.) must be checked as well.

3. Discuss your insurance requirements

Once you have understood your and your employees’ needs, and gone through the fine print, you will have a fair idea about the insurance requirements. Have an open discussion about these requirements with your insurer.

For example, ACKO’s Group Medical Cover does not follow a one-size-fits-all philosophy. You can pick and choose the coverage; the policy can be tailor-made at a group level as well as at an individual level. You can decide the sum insured at a group level, while an employee can enhance it at a personal level by paying for the extra coverage.

4. Be aware of policy nuances

Insurance is a tool to mitigate financial risks. It cannot remove them completely, nor is it a profit-making venture for the policyholder. Thus, there are some details that both the employer and the employees need to be aware of.

For instance, the Group Mediclaim Policy will not cover the entire hospital bill. There are particulars that the employee needs to account for. For example, consumables charges, deductibles, copayments (if any), etc.

Such nuances need to be understood by the employer and the employee to set the right expectations from the Group Health Plan.

5. Understand the legal implications

The Indian government had encouraged the organisations that were opening up after the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown to insure their employees. Also, if your organisation falls under certain types of industries (for example, manufacturing), then you might be required to insure your employees, factory workers, etc., accordingly, as per the Employee State Insurance Act, 1948. Details about Employee State Insurance and Group Medical Cover can be discussed with your legal team.

6. Reactive and proactive health insurance

Corporate Health Insurance Plans have evolved from being merely reactive to being proactive. Reactive insurance simply means offering financial assistance when the employee is hospitalised. Proactive insurance means enabling a lifestyle that leads to avoiding hospitalisation in the first place, along with offering financial assistance.

Incentivising good health/fitness activities, encouraging health check-ups by offering discounts on lab tests, and presenting avenues for preventive healthcare consultations with professionals (for example, teleconsultations with psychologists) are all part of proactive health insurance for employees.

7. Insurance and employee benefits

You can design your employee benefits program by keeping Group Health Insurance at its core. If you opt for proactive insurance measures mentioned above, then you are already taking the steps towards it.

Other ways to do so are by offering unlimited and free doctor consultations, teleconsultations with wellness experts regarding diet and mental health, discounts on medicine, etc. These are not futuristic features, they are currently offered via the ACKO Health app.

8. Tech-based health insurance

In 2021, all major sectors have leveraged technology to serve their customers. Insurance, including Group Health Insurance, is not far behind. For example, ACKO’s Group Medical Cover is tech-based and easily accessible via the mobile app. This means paperless insurance, easy claims, and total transparency.

Ways to save on Employee Health Insurance

Here’s how you can save money while offering the Employee Health Scheme.

Customise your plan to include only the required coverage.
Offer adequate coverage as the base sum insured and give the employees the option to enhance their cover individually.
Stick with the same insurer to receive a policy renewal discount, especially if the percentage of claims raised during the policy period is on the lower side.
Choose a tech-based insurer to reduce operational costs.
Receive tax rebates for the premium paid as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act.

Other things to know while offering employee health insurance

Here’s a secondary checklist to consider apart from the above-mentioned primary one with regards to Employer-employee Insurance.

1. Premium Payment

In most cases, the premium to insure the employees is paid entirely by the employer. But there can be instances where the premium is shared. However, it is not advisable to burden your employees with premium payment as Group health Insurance is often considered as an employment benefit.

2. Switching insurers

You can switch to a different insurer if you are not satisfied with the current insurer’s services or if you find a better option. Ideally, the switch should be made while renewing the plan. For example, if your current insurance policy is going to expire in September 2021, you can renew your plan seamlessly with ACKO in August 2021.

3. Avoid admin hassles

Insuring your employees with a comprehensive health insurance cover should not be an additional hassle for your HR/admin team. Ensure this does not happen by picking a digital-first insurer. For example, you can avoid admin hassles with ACKO’s Group Medical Cover, as it offers easy self-serve enrollment via the mobile app.

Where to find health insurance plans for employees?

You can find health insurance plans for your employees by seeking recommendations from your peers or browsing online for a suitable plan. Or else, you can skip all this and end your search with ACKO. ACKO’s Group Medical Cover caters to not only those employees who raise claims during the policy period (on an average 10% of employees) but even to those that do not raise a claim (the remaining 90%).

With curated health benefits for your employees, a wide network of hospitals, labs, and doctors, and a one-stop app for everything related to insurance, ACKO’s Group Medical Cover is a modern plan for people-first organisations.

Also, Read: Switch from Group Health Insurance to Individual Health Insurance

Disclaimer: The content on this page is generic and shared only for informational and explanatory purposes. It is based on industry experience and several secondary sources on the internet; and is subject to changes. Please go through the applicable policy wordings for updated ACKO-centric content and before making any insurance-related decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are some common questions and answers about Employee Health Insurance.

How much money do I have to pay to cover all my employees under ACKO’s policy?

The answer depends upon multiple factors, namely the number of employees, their average age, location, and the chosen cover.

Is it necessary to offer Group Health Insurance to employees, even for a small organisation?

Whether it is a big organisation or a small organisation, insuring your employees can lead to stronger loyalty, enhanced productivity, and better goodwill for the company. Besides, a government order mandated it for organisations opening up post the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

How can I roll out an employee insurance program for my employees if I partner with ACKO?

Employee enrollment is quick, easy, and hassle-free with ACKO. Bid adieu to insurance-related admin hassles, thanks to the ACKO app. It can be downloaded from the Play Store (Android) and the App Store (Apple).