For many businesses, the process of choosing and administering a health insurance benefits program is a daunting one. They often turn to benefits brokers to help them select and implement plans.
Traditional benefits brokers offer assistance in choosing plans, but typically lack the technological systems and solutions that help companies operate more efficiently and save money. In contrast, technology-backed brokers can use a variety of resources to not only aid in the selection of a health insurance plan, but to administer it and provide year-round support. Ultimately, a benefits broker should make the job of a company’s human resources (HR) department easier. If a broker is not achieving this goal, it may be time to investigate options for a new broker.
What Is A Broker?
Benefits brokers are licensed professionals who assist companies, small business owners, individuals and families in choosing and administering health insurance plans. Using their health insurance expertise, they help businesses choose health insurance networks and plans that fit their needs and budget. In many cases, brokers have long-standing relationships with their clients and can assist them with paperwork, compliance, and annual renewals.
What A Broker Should Be Doing
Establishing a comprehensive health insurance package for employees can be a challenging task for any business owner. With a seemingly endless array of choices, complicated enrollment procedures, and ever-changing legal requirements, even
seasoned HR professionals may find the task overwhelming. For this reason, many companies turn to a benefits broker. Taking advantage of a broker’s expertise in plan options, procedures, and rules is a smart choice for business owners. A good benefits broker will make sure that a client has the best benefits package for their needs and budget, and will reduce the workload for an HR department by handling the plan’s administration and paperwork. Part of this process is helping to ensure that you are aware of the types of plans and costs that your competitors are employing, as a part of the benchmarking process.
Utilize Technology Systems And Solutions Appropriately
One of the ways that brokers should be assisting their clients is through the use of technology solutions and systems. Utilizing technology to select and administer a benefits program can streamline the process, ensure compliance with rules, and verify that plan information is readily accessible to both the client and its employees.
A benefits broker should use innovative technology to help clients compare and select plans, educate employees about plan options, send customized open enrollment communications, and comply with all applicable rules and regulations. Specialized programs and applications can reduce paperwork and provide easy access to necessary information.
Provide Help Throughout The Year
Brokers should also be available to their clients throughout the year, offering support for problems or questions that arise about health insurance plans. A good broker will have sufficient staff to provide year-round assistance to clients—not only when it is time to renew a plan. If a company has an employee with a major health problem or life event, for example, a benefits broker should be available to discuss these issues – as well as assisting with other routine questions, and employee education-related items.
Provide Assistance In Selecting Health Insurance Programs
When it comes to selecting a health insurance program, a broker should have access to a variety of products and plans offered by a number of carriers to meet a business’ needs and budgets. Brokers with limited options often cannot respond to their client’s requirements, leaving companies with health insurance plans that are too expensive or that just do not meet employees’ needs. A top-ranked broker brings more to clients by way of leverage – including the ability to help troubleshoot challenging situations that may arise throughout the year.
Explain And Support Compliance
Finally, because the rules and regulations surrounding health insurance plans are complicated, a good benefits broker should protect their clients on all applicable compliance and regulatory issues. This includes making sure that the plan complies with all federal and state laws and regulations, that it is offered to all eligible employees and filing the required paperwork with the IRS and other government agencies. These tasks are important and necessary but may overwhelm an HR staff. A benefits broker should take on this work for clients, easing the burden of administering a health plan – including the tools, and invaluable resources, often through on-staff HR professionals to assist with local, federal, and ACA compliance support.
Is It Time For A New Broker?
A benefits broker should be doing a variety of things to meet client needs, including offering technology-based systems and solutions, offering a range of plan options, providing year-round support, and protecting clients on regulatory and compliance issues. If a broker is not doing any of these tasks, companies should consider finding a broker who can meet their needs.
Companies that are not adequately supported by their brokers may find that their business is negatively impacted. HR professionals may feel stressed and overworked if a broker is not providing assistance in administering a health insurance program, which may ultimately lead to a high turnover rate.
Without technology-backed solutions, plan administration may be over costly and time-consuming. Employees may also be dissatisfied if they do not have their preferred health insurance options, or if they feel that they do not have access to the information that they need and want about their benefits.
If a broker is not offering a range of plans and carrier options, a company may not even be aware of lower-cost plans or plans that meet their needs better. If a broker is not assisting a business with compliance, the company may be penalized through fines and penalties for not filing the correct forms with state or federal government, or even through missed opportunities to lower their tax burden.
The Advantage Of Technology-Backed Brokers
When it comes to selecting and administering a health insurance plan, using the proper technology is key. The world of health insurance is a fast-changing one, with evolving laws and market conditions that make it hard for the average business owner to keep up with the changes.
A good benefits broker should deliver expertise on a broad variety of topics, from compliance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to tax matters and benefits administration. A good broker should also stay on top of changing regulations and premium rates for their clients. Given the complex nature of health insurance benefits, brokers which provide ease of access to technology-backed systems and solutions offer many advantages over traditional brokers.
Compliance Needs
One such advantage of working with a broker can be seen in how brokers handle compliance with the ACA. While health care reform has provided more affordable insurance options for individuals and employers, it has also brought many rules and regulations. Employers need to determine how many full-time employees they have, ensure that their health insurance plans have the minimum value, determine what they have to report to the IRS, and then make sure that the proper paperwork is filed in a timely manner.
Failing to comply with these regulations can trigger compliance violations, resulting in penalties and missed tax savings. Traditional brokers do not provide support to their clients on these matters, leaving businesses on their own when it comes to navigating this complicated system. However, a technology-backed broker may be able to provide valuable resources to their clients to ensure compliance and help avoid any potential penalties. These tools can help employers save time and money, and allow companies to focus on what is really important—running their business smoothly and profitably.
HR Needs
Beyond compliance, technology-backed brokers may also be able to assist employers with their human resources needs. Traditional brokers are not seasoned in the field of human resources, leaving clients on their own to create their own HR policies and draft an employee handbook. They often do not provide HR support for their clients, and cannot answer questions on thorny HR issues.
In contrast, technology-backed brokers may give their clients access to a wealth of information and resources to assist their human resources team. This could include topical articles on issues that are relevant to employers, forms, sample employee handbooks and communications tools. Utilizing these tools could help an employer avoid claims of wrongful termination, discrimination, and harassment. Technology-backed brokers may also offer support on HR issues to help their clients successfully handle any problems that arise. In this way, technology-backed brokers have a distinct advantage over traditional brokers.
Pre-Renewal Planning Ahead Of The Curve
When it comes to providing support, most traditional brokers limit their client contact to renewal time. Employers are left to navigate compliance and HR issues on their own, with little to no ongoing support from their brokers. Unlike traditional brokers, technology-backed brokers understand how important year-round support is to companies.
They may help clients develop strategic plans to lower costs, such as designing employee wellness programs or encouraging healthy employee behavior and habits. Technology-backed brokers may help clients choose the best benefits and support them through the open enrollment process, offering customized communications and education to increase employee participation in the plan. They understand that benefits are about more than just complying with the law; benefits can be a valuable recruiting tool and a way to improve employee satisfaction and retention. With that in mind, technology-backed brokers may provide year-round support and compliance information, ensuring that clients are never left to struggle with plan administration on their own.
Comprehensive Open-Enrollment Support
The advantages of working with a technology-backed broker can be seen in one of the most stressful parts of plan administration for HR professionals: open enrollment. A technology-backed broker may be able to set up an automated enrollment process, which eliminates the expense and hassle of distributing and collecting paper enrollment forms.
It also improves the overall efficiency and accuracy of the process. Using online enrollment typically shortens the enrollment cycle, as employees can learn about their benefits options, compare costs and coverage, and pick plans based on their eligibility for different options.
Employees can complete the enrollment process independently, finding answers to questions directly on the enrollment site, and can review their benefits information and report life changes at any time, without the involvement of the HR department. Online enrollment also simplifies plan administration, with elections, applies directly to employee records. Employees can readily view and update their records and plans, and the HR department can check enrollment status in real time. Depending on the program used, they may also be able to generate detailed reports on the cost of employee benefits.
Plan Designs And A Discerning Benchmark Analysis
Technology-backed brokers also have an advantage when it comes to initial plan selection. Traditional brokers will research plans, provide quotes and negotiate rates, but they often fail to do a deeper analysis to help companies design a competitive health insurance plan. Having a health plan that is comparable or superior to what other companies in a given industry or region is critical to recruitment and retention of top employees.
A technology-backed broker could perform a benchmarking analysis to determine what others in a given industry or area are providing for their employees, which can help companies choose plans that will give them a competitive advantage. Technology-backed brokers may also utilize programs to project the impact of medical, vision and dental plan changes, estimated renewal cost and streamline the selection process for employees.
Using the right technology to choose and implement a health insurance program through a benefits broker should help a company offer a competitive, cost-effective benefits package to its employees.
Data Analysis And Plan Comparisons
Finally, technology-backed brokers may utilize online systems to analyze clients’ plan data to determine how to adjust plans to save money. These programs may also be able to model recommended changes so that clients can see how suggested changes could save money or provide better benefits for employees. In contrast, traditional brokers do not have the analytical tools or technology to dig into plan data and identify areas for improvement.
Employers who use traditional benefits brokers will never see how their plan data compares to others in the industry, and may waste money. In this manner, technology-backed brokers may help their clients tighten their benefits budget.
In Conclusion
When it comes to selecting and administering a health insurance plan, a benefits broker should make life easier for clients. If a company is not receiving year-round support and access to technology to manage their health benefits, it may be time to look for a new broker. An experienced, knowledgeable, and highly dependable technology-backed broker such as those working at Business Benefits Group is a fantastic option for most companies—offering a range of services to help save our clients time and money, and allow them to focus every effort on running their business. Contact Business Benefits Group to learn more.