Employee Benefits in Louisiana

A wellness program is one-way employers can help their employees live a healthier lifestyle. While there are various forms of wellness plans that can be utilized, most carriers provide some basic wellness programs and incentives at no cost. Some employers will utilize robust wellness programs to include programs such as worksite diagnostic wellness testing and vaccinations. These types of programs usually have an upfront cost for the service, but over time create a cost savings to the employer through better health and job performance from their employees as well as reduced claims to reduce rate increases on their health plan.

COBRA stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. It is a federal law that allows employees and their dependents to continue their group health insurance coverage for a limited period after experiencing certain qualifying events that would typically result in the loss of coverage.

These events include job loss, reduced work hours, transition between jobs, death, or divorce. Under COBRA, eligible individuals can retain their health benefits for up to 18 months or even up to 36 months, provided they pay the full premium plus a small administrative fee. This law ensures that individuals do not experience a gap in their health insurance coverage during times of transition.

In most cases, employers are required to offer some sort of group coverage continuation when an employee that is enrolled in group coverage leaves the employer. However, this is at the full expense to the employee and often with a 2% additional administrative fee.

• • If the employer has less than 20 employees then the continuation is called State Continuation and could provide coverage up to 12 months after the group coverage ends.
  • If the employer has 20 or more employees, then coverage is continued through COBRA and could provide coverage up to 18 months or more after the group coverage ends.

While most carriers require a minimum percentage of your employees to participate, not all employees have to enroll in the employer-sponsored group health plan. There are also ways to customize who is eligible to participate based on bonified job classifications. This is called “customized eligibility” and can allow employers to incentivize employees to grow in their role with the company and retain quality employees.

Yes… We always recommend offering your employees more than one health plan to choose from. There is no additional cost and employees usually appreciate options to choose the plan that’s right for them.

As a general rule, the employer must pay 50% of the “employee only” portion of the premium. However, there are more rules to consider. For instance, if you are a large employer (over 50 employees) then the employee’s portion of the premium for “employee only” coverage cannot exceed the affordability factor for the coverage year (9.12% of the employee household income for 2023).

• • Affordability is based on the “employee only” portion of the lowest cost plan option that provides minimum essential coverage to your employee (MEC Plan).
  • When we set up your group health plan, we will always test your plan to ensure you meet all state and federal requirements such as affordability testing.

While offering group benefits to your employees is a great way to attract and retain quality employees, if you employ less than 50, you are not required to offer group health insurance to them.

• There are many ways to offer benefits to your employees in addition to offering group health insurance.
• Oftentimes, offering a health consultant as a resource to help your employees obtain reduced-cost individual coverage can be a great benefit in lieu of offering group health insurance, and it can be done at no cost to the employer.