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“Pay or Play” Penalties. Is Your Church or School Growing?

by City on a Hill
October 11, 2022

When schools first closed their doors to in-person learning in the Fall of 2020, no one could have predicted just how the pandemic would impact the educational system. From Spring 2020 through Fall 2022, schools, teachers, students, and caregivers had to navigate masking, social distancing, and testing protocols, as well as the constant rotation of closing and reopening of schools.

By the 2020-2021 school year, many private schools began seeing dramatic growth. A recent Christian Headlines article shares that since the beginning of the pandemic, nearly 80% of private Christian schools have seen increased enrollment. With the uncertainty of the pandemic and the reality of the public school curriculum, many parents and caregivers decided to enroll their children into private and Christian schools. 

Now, as we continue into the new school year, both private and Christian schools are still seeing significant increases in enrollment. 

With an influx of new students ready to begin the year, additional staff must be hired to support them, driving these schools towards a new category of employers – an applicable large employer (ALE). This title, given by the Affordable Care Act, comes with employer-shared responsibilities that could be challenging for nonprofit Christian schools as well as smaller private schools to follow.

The provision includes nonprofit organizations.

The “Pay or Play provision,” requires certain employers to offer affordable, minimum value coverage to full-time employees. An employer is subject to the rules if they employ at least 50 full-time employees in a calendar year, including full-time equivalent employees. As seen below:

  • A full-time employee is one who works 30 or more hours each week. In a calendar month, per the Affordable Care Act, 130 hours is considered the equivalent of 30 hours a week.
  • Hours worked by part-time employees, or employees who work less than 30 hours per week, are counted and divided by 120 per month. This number will determine how many full-time equivalent employees a company has.
  • If the total of full-time employees and full-time equivalent employees are over 50, a company can be considered an applicable large employer.

Many schools will now need to determine if they qualify as an applicable large employer. Many details within the provision can make this a difficult task. For example, calculating hours worked for each employee includes non-working hours such as vacation and leave of absence.

Employers who do not offer their employees a health plan and are considered a large employer are subject to paying costly penalties. Schools need to work with their advisors to ensure they are in compliance with the Affordable Care Act as the penalties have recently increased. 

Tuition vs Enrollment vs Budget

Small private and nonprofit schools that have grown in size may find themselves in a difficult position. Often, these schools don’t have the ability to support a health plan due to limited budgets. Those who charge tuition could consider raising the cost to help support affordable coverage, however raising fees could affect enrollment, creating a challenging cycle. 

At City on a Hill, we work directly with private and nonprofit schools. We have unique solutions that can help. We can help schools deliver affordable health plans, designed for their unique workforce, even with zero budget. Options are available. After analyzing plan data we can develop a three to five year strategic plan.

A plan can be designed to complement your budget, from zero dollars to full coverage, allowing schools that have grown over 50 employees to avoid or minimize harsh penalties. If you have questions about Pay or Play penalties or need help to determine whether you are an applicable large employer, let’s chat.

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Support Employee’s Mental Health with Unique Benefit Solutions

by City on a Hill
September 16, 2022

Rising staff shortages and mental health concerns may have contributed to a challenging recruitment process for many organizations this summer. Now, as we begin the new school year, ensuring your employee benefit programs complement a supportive and encouraging environment is essential. 

The ongoing effects from the pandemic has left teachers and staff feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. A survey from the National Education Association (NEA) shows educators feel burnout is a top concern, with “67% reporting it as a very serious issue and 90% a very serious or somewhat serious issue.” These concerns need to be addressed by schools now in order to prevent the possibility of teachers leaving their field.

Staff shortages and the pandemic are listed as leading contributors of stress and although the worst of the pandemic appears to be behind us, educators may have to navigate long-term mental health effects, not only for themselves, but the students they teach.

To address burnout, those surveyed shared they are strongly in support of schools hiring more teachers and support staff to ease additional workload. As well as options to provide mental and behavioral health support for students. NEA members also expressed an interest in increased wages and while that request could be in the budget for some schools, finding and allocating these additional funds can be extremely difficult for smaller or private Christian schools

Providing support may be key for recruitment and retention this year

In these cases, schools can offer support to their staff by looking at their benefits program in a more strategic way. Making meaningful changes within your plan can improve employee experience and reduce stress that causes burnout. An important part of assessing your benefits program is to ensure employees can access programs easily and affordably. For example, reducing co-pays for mental health programs or spreading awareness using monthly email campaigns.

Advisors, like us, can help you make important data-based decisions and develop strategies that can support your people, financially and emotionally. Whether that means providing new programs or investing in current ones.

To address burnout and build retention and recruitment strategies this year, employers should consider:

  • Providing mental health programs such as workplace Chaplain services or Employee Assistance Programs that offer confidential support for employee concerns.
  • Focusing on financial well being by offering life insurance options, financial well being programs, disability or Flexible Spending Accounts.
  • Providing job and classroom flexibility for teachers. Creating more time for teachers to prepare lessons, grade work and organize student activities.
  • Concentrating on school culture and mission can be an effective way to help your people feel valued. 
  • Offering education programs to help employees achieve personal goals and develop skills.
  • Conducting regular surveys and speaking with employees one-on-one can help you better understand how your programs are working and where improvements need to be made. 

Any changes made to your benefits programs can be done slowly over time. Using change management strategies that allows teachers and staff to become accustomed to differences in their plans without feeling overwhelmed. This can be especially important due to the high level of stress teachers are feeling.

Help teachers focus on inspiring students by giving them the support they need.

Educators often choose their profession because they want to make a difference in the lives of others. By making a genuine effort to support them in that journey you can alleviate their stress and increase their satisfaction. Recruitment and retention are closely associated. When you focus on taking care of the people you have, you can inadvertently attract more talent by word of mouth and reputation. 

At City on a Hill, we understand how important your people are. We want to help you manage your benefit program in a way that gives you more control over costs. Allowing you to provide comprehensive, supportive programs to teachers during these difficult times.

If you’re worried about your teachers and staff experiencing burnout, let’s chat.

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Change Management and Your Benefits Program

by City on a Hill
August 4, 2022

Where change presents itself, uncertainty follows. Yet, in a time where employee wellbeing and health is a top priority, adjustments to benefits may be necessary to support them. Changes that can reduce costs and improve employee experience can make a big difference for employees.

Recently we discussed a place for innovation in your benefits plan, and organizations are responding. Innovation can promote a positive workplace culture, help avoid employee burnout, and generate cost savings for your organization. But once employers have taken the first step— deciding to make a change—how do you overcome the risks and anxieties of that uncertainty?

Change Management

Employers often receive large increases from their insurance carriers, many times with no explanations as to why. This leaves employers with one option: to try to argue down the cost. While a lesser increase is a great place to start, employers really need to ask themselves if their carriers are truly looking out for their best interests. Increases year after year with no options to improve your program can become unsustainable, which can negatively affect your organization and employees. 

This is especially important for small churches and Christian schools, who sometimes have limited budgets to work with. Partners that are more aligned with your mission are better able to support you.

We have a client who is insured with a larger carrier and is interested in making changes to their plan but doesn’t want to transform the plan entirely. For these clients, we were able to save them money for the current year by uncovering and alleviating immediate high costs within the plan. This led to reduced rates and a better ability to manage changes appropriately and allow transition slowly the following year.

Flipping all the switches at once is not required. 

Currently, over 70% of employers are worried about stress and burnout affecting their business, according to MetLife’s 29th Annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study. With numbers like these, any changes made to a benefits program need to be done deliberately and carefully.

Strategically, we will do what we can to keep your organization with the same carrier and your employees with the same doctors. We make changes step by step to avoid stress for employees and ensure we stay within budget. If you have a preferred network and are comfortable, we can work to keep you there. 

At the same time, we recognize that circumstances and priorities can shift, the recent pandemic is a great example of how quickly those factors can change. Bumps in the journey are often preventable, but where they aren’t, we have a suite of solutions and partners we can leverage to address them. Where change is the smart option, how we implement that change is often as important as the change itself.

For example, changing networks, even when employees have access to the same doctors, can create discomfort. HR staff, who are used to operating a certain way and employees who are accustomed to the way their insurance works often need time to adjust and familiarize themselves with new processes. They need to be led into a new system with ease, allowing time for education, training and support, which is why our process includes making adjustments over time, to give employers and employees more runway to work through.

Alleviate unnecessary stress to you and your people.

A gradual change allows for innovation and improves efficacy. We design the pathway with you. Starting with small, intentional adjustments to manage costs and reduce risk. Our three-year pathway can look something like this:

Year 1: Manage the initial changes. We strategically design a 12-month runway with employers. Time is taken to discuss options and answer questions. We recommend a minimum of 4-6 months to introduce changes to those employees who will be impacted, whether that’s a few individuals or the entirety of your workforce.

Year 2: Expand on those changes. To reduce disruption to the organization, data-based decisions and pathways are continued. Valuable data, such as plan usage or sources of costs, is pulled and analyzed. If employers have concerns, we are able to provide appropriate solutions for those concerns as well. 

Year 3: Continue to build. Every year provides new opportunities and challenges, but by this stage in the plan, your organization and its members are in a position to adopt aggressive cost-saving measures because we have trained them, educated them, and prepared them for this new way of approaching benefits. Not all aggressive options make sense for every organization, of course, but we have managed change in such a way that you can make those choices with less anxiety.

Improve your plan with your mission in mind.

Change management, when done in this manner, can produce cost savings and improve employee satisfaction. Adding new processes too quickly or without proper planning can cause confusion for employers and employees, which is why change management is important.

We have niche solutions for the schools and churches we serve, specifically tailored to their needs. Our process is different from other advisors because of the relationship we have with our partners and how we can leverage opportunities for savings and improvement. We believe in the benefits of data-based decision making and long-term planning.
Our goal is to be able to help all organizations thrive. We work with schools of all sizes and budgets. If you are interested in discussing unique options for your business, let’s chat!

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Uncategorized

There is a Place For Innovation in Your Benefits Program.

by City on a Hill
June 29, 2022

We often ask employees to be innovative. To develop and implement new ideas and concepts so we can promote growth in our schools and churches. We want our students and community to know that change doesn’t have to be scary but empowering.

But when it comes to healthcare insurance and employee benefits this strategic asset can be overlooked. In fact, we come across many opportunities to improve program designs but are met with employers who are hesitant to make changes, despite the cost-saving potential.

Sympathizing with the challenges of change. 

Employers can feel hesitant to make changes to their benefits programs for a variety of reasons. Some feel changes to the program will be too time-consuming or the disturbances caused by a change, big or small, may outweigh the advantages. Others may worry about how change could affect employees and company culture.

Those employers who are interested in innovative solutions to better their program may have brokers who aren’t. Brokers who are more comfortable being reactive with plans and sticking with what they know, instead of being proactive and producing a strategy that better fits the needs of the organization.

This can make even the most innovative employers reluctant to change.

Recently we were able to improve a client’s plan by coming in 20% below the broker’s current rate. We were able to strengthen their plan and reduce the costs by using a unique solution their broker was not aware of, leaving the current broker at a loss because the new strategy was better in every regard.

In these situations, brokers often engage with employers, telling them to remain skeptical while they search for answers. This can be confusing and stressful for employers and can cause them to question their decisions, delaying or even denying changes to their program that can improve employee experience and lower costs.

Helping employers feel more comfortable in these scenarios is important. Innovation comes naturally in all areas of our workplace, except when it comes to healthcare and employee benefits. This is a problem.

The proposed changes will save this organization money. And because costs aren’t getting passed onto employees, their employees will save money too. There are no holes in what we do. We were able to offer rebates, contracts, and bulk purchasing to help lower costs. With bulk purchasing you can save up to 10 to 15%, which was a big part of the savings we established for this organization.

We are confident in our strategies and we are used to discovering innovative, effective benefit solutions. We also know how important culture and mission are for employers and how difficult change can be. Managing your benefits program in a different way can be intimidating, especially if your broker isn’t familiar with the mechanisms.

Gain the confidence you need to improve your benefits program.

If you find yourself in this scenario and are worried about a new solution for your program, there are steps you can take to ensure you’re decision: 

  • Talk to your broker and/or advisor about the benefits and risks until you truly understand the strategy. 
  • Talk to your peers who are trying this kind of innovation and see what results they are getting with their plans. 
  • Ask for references. An advisor or broker who is suggesting an innovative change should have case studies, success stories, and clients who are willing to share outlooks. 

Being innovative with your benefits program can be intimidating. Talk to your peers, talk to your advisor and when you have the information, data, and references you need, take another look. Improving efficiency, lowering costs, and gaining a competitive advantage can be done with appropriate changes.

If you are looking for more information about innovation in your benefits program, let’s chat. We want you to feel comfortable with all of your benefit decisions.

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Your Mission is an Important Ingredient in Your Benefits Program

by City on a Hill
June 22, 2022

Offering healthcare insurance is an important decision for any business. Designed with your organization’s unique qualities in mind, your plan needs to protect the health and wellbeing of your people and their families. Ideally, offering the best coverage available, while aligning with your organization’s financial goals.

For many small churches and Christian schools, the importance of optimizing every benefit dollar is essential. Even small increases in costs can mean dramatic changes for these organizations. To recover from unexpected expenses churches need to rely on an increase in donations or look for alternative sources of income and schools often need to increase tuition, which directly affects the families and students who attend.

You need flexibility in your benefits program.

Some churches are being led incorrectly by advisors who feel restricted by rules and regulations that other businesses need to adhere to. These advisors may not be aware that churches have certain regulations that don’t apply to them, or if they are aware, they don’t want to put in the effort to make those changes. This is an area that is often overlooked, that flexibility needs to become a reality for these churches.

Your advisor needs to know the variables that come into play when designing an insurance plan for your church or school. For example, some schools will pay teachers throughout the summer, while others don’t. This can impact policies and payrolls. It is critical your advisor understands these intricacies ahead of time.

When expanding into full benefits your advisor should be familiar with regulations for disability policies, enhanced benefits, cost-sharing options, and more. These options are very unique to schools and churches and need to be strategically planned and implemented. 

In these types of environments where your culture or mission is what attracts your workforce, not necessarily your payroll, it is important to ensure you know your options.

We have talked with schools where their families are paying $2000 a month in insurance because the organization has tried to go the route of a traditional business. That’s $24,000, when they may only make $30,000 a year in salary. This is unsustainable, unreasonable and can impact your organization’s ability to retain and recruit top talent. 

You need long-term solutions for your people. 

You need to work with an advisor that knows your organization from the ground up, that can come in from your standpoint. You need an advisor who knows your organization’s financial status and can help ensure you are offering the most appropriate, effective, and affordable benefits to your people. 

Specialty advisors, like us, know how churches, Christian schools, and universities work. We can recommend unique solutions to provide cost-effective and sustainable solutions for you and your employees. Solutions that can: 

  • Help protect your organization from the effects of unexpected cost increases.
  • Provide transparency so you can take back control of your healthcare spend.
  • Generate cost savings that can be used for your school, teachers, church, and/or community.
  • Create competitive benefits programs that work for your unique workforce, while maintaining affordability.
  • Support you and your people in every aspect of the program, so you can focus on teaching the next generation.

Your mission is important. 

The value of working with someone that has a similar mind and framework is unmeasurable. Tactically speaking, any advisor can figure out the system. They can offer a complete health insurance program for your organization, but if they don’t truly understand the nuts and bolts of your church or school, can you trust they are doing everything they can to protect your mission? 

We understand your finances and understand what your people go through on a day-to-day basis. Your benefits should be as unique as your organization.

We can create an ecosystem that helps you at every turn, we plan for the future and take care of the present so you can focus on helping your people and leading your organization.

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Uncategorized

Do You Want What’s Best for Your Employees?

by City on a Hill
October 12, 2021

Your staff is one of the most important aspects of your school. For this reason alone, when it comes to your employee benefits, you need to make the right choices and decisions for them. 

Often, we choose to make quick, easy decisions in our daily lives and if we apply this technique to our employee benefits we could be doing our staff a major injustice. Yes, the healthcare industry is confusing and complicated but if you don’t focus and prioritize the benefits you offer, you cannot say with confidence that you’re providing the benefits your staff actually requires.

You need to start asking yourself if you really want what is best for your employees. In modern business, there is no acceptable way to answer this question with a simple “No”. However, there is room for uncertainty.  If your answer is yes, but you’re unsure how to proceed, you are still headed in the right direction. 

Health insurance can be difficult, but your people deserve the effort.

Knowing what’s best.

Currently, employees are bankrupted by health insurance costs. Some are receiving low quality care, they are being sent to collections, and they are confused. All of these concerns equate to a workforce that may have a difficult time focusing on what matters most, the students. 

If you really want what’s best for your people, you need to actively try to solve these issues. There’s a call for us to try. Although making changes to your benefits plan is not always easy, you don’t want your people in medical debt. With a poor surgeon or a bad health outcome.

Some key areas to begin your focus are:

  • Education. Your employees might not understand how your benefits work, what they are eligible for, or even how to apply. By educating employees about their benefits — new hires and continuously throughout their employment — they will have a better understanding of what’s being offered to them.
  • Plan ahead. Set a schedule and assess your timing. Know when to address your benefits plan and address it regularly, especially before renewal season begins. Don’t avoid or delay this process.
  • Revenue options. Your spend can do more than you think. By analyzing your data you can gain insight about where your money is going and if you are getting a return on your investment. 
  • Communicate with your leadership team. They may have concerns that need to be addressed such as employee engagement, retention or absenteeism.
  • Communication with your people. Your employees are a reliable source of knowledge, only they can tell you what they need and if the benefits are working for them.

We can argue that some of the best things in life are difficult to achieve. We can also argue that some of the best places to work are those who fight for their employees. We need to support our people, now more than ever. Medical debt is a growing concern in America and your teachers and staff are not immune.

Doing what’s best.

Employee benefits are there to protect your people. They are also a big part of your business’s costs, which should make them a priority to the school. If your plan is not set up to provide the best for your employees, there could be hidden revenue that could be put back into the school in a more meaningful way. 

Your staff are crucial to the success of your school board, you need to make sure they are taken care of to the best of your ability. If you need help, or have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

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Uncategorized

When Health Insurance Companies Merge

by City on a Hill
August 24, 2021

As an employer, you should be aware of changes occurring in your health insurance policies. This is especially true following an acquisition because when a large health insurance company steps in, your policies could be adjusted, which can affect your school in a significant way.

By definition, an acquisition is the act of gaining a possession, or in other words, an acquisition is when one company takes over another. When an acquisition occurs between health insurance companies one will receive the clientele along with the company and when that occurs, modifications to the policies can be made. 

Although these changes may not be obvious at first, slowly over time your policy can shift in a direction that benefits the insurance company and not necessarily your school.

Large companies can be wrapped in bureaucracy 

True story — a school that we work for purchased insurance from a small health insurance agency and was happy with the service they received for a number of years. Eventually, the owner of that company decided to retire and sold the business to a larger health insurance company. Over time, the school’s insurance policy slowly became more about driving efficiencies toward the insurance company’s revenue and not the schools.

At a certain size, health insurance agencies can become less personal and direct because of the bureaucracy involved. Incentives are easily misaligned and policies and procedures become layered, preventing creativity and flexibility for brokers and agents. These situations are unfortunately more common than you might think. 

Know what information is important, and who to get it from

If your school’s health insurance company is considering an acquisition there are several key points to keep in mind, such as:

  • Request your policies data and be sure you receive it in a timely manner.
  • If your policy has changed over time and no longer fits your company culture, discuss your options with your provider to make necessary adjustments.
  • If a broker is suggesting a specific plan or carrier, ask if there is a different commission or monthly fee for that particular plan compared to others that are not being recommended. It is your right to know if incentives are being offered.
  • Maintain communication with your employees during renewal time as well as periodically throughout the year, to be sure your benefits align with their needs. If there are employee complaints or desires, be sure to bring them up with your provider.
  • Customer service can suffer after a merger or acquisition. If you find you are not getting the help you need, you may need to consider another carrier.
  • Stay on top of your health insurance policies, or bring in the help of an advisor who can help. Remember that maintaining a good health insurance policy needs attention throughout the year, not just at renewal time.

By staying informed with the correct data and asking the right questions you can help keep your health insurance policy working to its full potential. Remember to include opinions and information from your employees as well as your broker or agent.

Your employees can give valuable feedback

Cara Silletto, a workforce thought leader from Magnet Culture recommended in a recent Conner Chat webinar that companies should “…conduct pulse surveys, not just annual one-time surveys but regular one or two questions out to different pockets of the employees to collect more valid data.” 

By collecting this data and information you can get a better understanding of what is happening with your policy and remain mindful of any changes that are occurring throughout the year. Then, you can take this knowledge to the insurance provider to keep your policy moving in the right direction, which is a quality, cost-effective benefits program for your staff and school.

When health insurance companies merge, or an acquisition takes place, the immediate effects to your company’s policy aren’t always obvious. Know what questions to ask, what your plan options are and where the recommendations are coming from. 

If you need help with your health insurance policy don’t hesitate to reach out. 

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Uncategorized

Leading Your Post-Pandemic Workforce

by City on a Hill
August 24, 2021

With new rules and regulations, the post-pandemic Olympic Games has been a different experience for athletes and coaches alike. But perhaps one of the most talked about events of the Summer 2021 Olympics has been Simon Biles’ surprise withdrawal from the games. And her reasons are honorable. 

The Olympic gymnast, who is considered to be one of the top gymnasts of her time, withdrew from the summer games to protect her mental and physical well-being. Her coaches and teammates are all in support of her decision because they know the consequences of continuing to compete in the Olympics could have been disastrous.

The strength in admitting this to the entire world is admirable, a lesson our teachers should be sharing with all of our students. 

Closer to home than we think

The pandemic has affected all of us in different ways and as we head toward a post-pandemic way of doing business, we can look at Simon Biles decision to protect her mental health and apply it to the inner workings of our schools. 

To do this, we need to take a step back and look at the way we are leading our people. We need to support them on an individual level, representing any concerns or needs they may have. If we take care of our people on an individual basis we can make our teams, and our schools stronger.

Dig in and talk to your employees

Taking care of our employees is more than ensuring we have the proper protocols in place, we need to dig in and reach out to each employee to confirm we are taking care of everyone.

For example, a friend of mine works for colleges by participating in an extensive mental health awareness program. He is always on scene to talk with high-risk individuals, helping them through their crisis. While it is an excellent way to support staff and students, no one took the lead in caring for my friend, to help him deal with his own trauma of absorbing everyone else’s. He is trained to deal with suicidal people, but nobody looked at what he would need to decompress after those experiences. 

A missing step in a protocol designed to help employees. How can we protect our own people from situations like this? We need to take it back to the benefits. We need to look at how employees respond to us as an organization. In a recent Conner Chat webinar, Ben Conner talks about mission-driven benefits, which can help us be more efficient with our insurance benefits. 

By considering our employees individually in our benefits strategy we can create a better deliverable for our schools and allow our staff to feel a part of our culture and by doing so we can unlock revenues that we can put back into the business, to take care of our people.

We can also open the doors of communication to allow our staff to feel comfortable telling us when something is affecting them on a personal level.

Support your company culture

Simon Biles felt comfortable making a tremendous decision at this year’s summer games perhaps because she knew she had the support of her coach and team behind her. By taking care of her mental health and by giving her the tools she needs to repair, her team becomes stronger.

We cannot neglect the importance of mental health recognition within our schools. By listening to what they need and adjusting our benefits program accordingly we can support our people and grow a stronger team. This is especially important heading into the post-pandemic workforce.

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Save Your People from the Complexity of Medicare

by City on a Hill
July 26, 2021

Understanding Medicare is difficult for many staff members within your school board. In fact, for some employees reaching sixty five, the challenges that Medicare enrollment presents may cause them to avoid the program even when they qualify. 

When employees avoid enrollment into Medicare, they could miss deadlines, choose the wrong plan or delay enrollment, which can cost teachers and staff considerably, due to penalties and late fees. 

When considering the federal health care program, there are some unique aspects that teachers need to take into account such as additional investments, 403b plans, pension and social security, all of which can further complicate Medicare and the retirement process. 

Proactive education.

Addressing these concerns with your employees should occur early and often. Resources, such as consultations with advisors, informational emails or workshops, should be available throughout the school board to help answer difficult questions that come when considering Medicare enrollment. 

Part of the reason Medicare is so complicated is because it comes with multiple options. Some aspects of Medicare that employees need to consider are:

  • Part A – Hospital insurance, which covers in-hospital and patient care.
  • Part B – Medical insurance, which covers outpatient and medical care.
  • Part D – Prescription drug coverage, covers most self-administered prescription drugs.
  • Medicare – includes Part A, Part B and the option of adding Part D
  • Medicare Advantage – considered an “all in one” alternative to Medicare, and includes Part A, Part B and sometimes Part D as well as other benefits such as vision/dental etc.
  • There are also premiums, deductibles and copays to consider. 

Many employees need and welcome the opportunity to to learn more about Medicare insurance, everything from options to eligibility as well as the relationship between their traditional health insurance plan and Medicare benefits. The more information and resources that are supplied, the better choices your people can make.

Discussing these choices with a professional who knows the answers to their specific questions can be beneficial. For example, some teachers pay into a Teacher Retirement System within their state, these teachers will need to know how Medicare enrollment affects this account.

Practical concern. 

About 25% of people are unsure about what a traditional health plan covers and the fact that Medicare is even more complex, some teachers may find Medicare simply too difficult to navigate or may even avoid it entirely.

By educating staff and spreading awareness to the possibilities medicare offers, an employee could find medicare is in fact a better option for them, helping them to enroll into Medicare at the right time. 

Understanding Medicare can be difficult for your employees, but by setting up consultations with an expert to talk about their individual health insurance needs, you can help employees who are considering Medicare enrollment make positive, smart decisions.

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Uncategorized

Solving New Retirement Challenges with Your Benefits Plan

by City on a Hill
July 26, 2021

Teachers make up a large portion of the American workforce and with 18% of the teaching population over fifty five, many are approaching the age of retirement, an age that comes with a variety of emotions and concerns.

A large portion of those over fifty five may also have elderly parents to care for. The balancing act of teaching, preparing for retirement and caring for a loved one can carry a significant impact on work performance, causing stress and a disconnect from the workplace. 

The emotional and financial stress caused by these significant life stages can affect not only the teachers, but students, support staff and the school board. Taking a proactive approach to manage the stress your teachers experience is essential. 

By viewing your benefits plan as more than an insurance policy and using it to educate and protect your employees, you can work towards relieving stress to a large degree.  

Benefits

Retirement is something that will occur for all teachers and staff within the school board, one of the rare circumstances in business that can be said with certainty. Everyone will eventually reach an age where they start to consider retiring and some may have the additional responsibility of caring for aging family members. 

The importance of creating a stress free environment within your organization is essential, as there could be implications for students within the school board. Providing a benefits plan designed with your people in mind can alleviate the stress that comes with the transition to retirement, allowing teachers to focus on the classroom. 

Supporting the aging population with a benefits plan designed for your people shows you care about them and promotes a positive work environment. 

Education 

Variables such as a 403b plan, social security, pensions and Medicare coverage make retirement for teachers a unique challenge. There are many decisions that need to be made and if you can help your staff navigate those choices, the entire school board can benefit. 

By providing educational material, training and workshops to highlight the resources available for retirement preparation, you can not only help employees navigate retirement and long term care plans, but also ensure the plan is being fully utilized. After all, no one benefits from an unused plan, especially your people.

In addition to programs and material presented within the school, extending the opportunity for education and guidance about benefits plans to outside sources can be very helpful.

Experts

A gym teacher who coaches football players may need the advice, expertise and knowledge from outside specialists and educators. If students seem disconnected or unfocused, consultations with these professionals are usually set up and after speaking to the right advisor, students can return to the team and are able to better focus on the game.

The same metaphor can be applied to the inner workings of the school board. Teachers and staff who are worried about approaching retirement or distracted by caring for a loved one can experience more absenteeism and decreased productivity, which can affect the students and the school. Employees who receive guidance from professionals can empower them to make smart decisions and eliminate stress and distractions.

That’s where we come in. As experts in health insurance and with partners in benefit plans, we position ourselves as advisors that can offer professional guidance. We teach, train, and problem solve alongside your teachers, so you and your teachers can continue to focus on what matters most, our future citizens. 

Culture

Providing guidance for your employees about their benefits plans, with a focus on the aging demographic, is a valuable strategy for your school. Bringing ease from the difficulties of navigating retirement and long term care options for loved ones can change the dynamic of your school board and create a culture that your employees value.

When you begin conversations about navigating health insurance, benefits, Medicare and retirement you begin to enhance employee experience by showing your people you truly want the best for them.

The decisions and choices your staff face can be confusing and overwhelming and with almost a quarter of your school board reaching the age of retirement, the importance of a well structured benefits plan to support them is essential.

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