Preventative Healthcare Benefits: Are They the Same As Insurance?

If you care about having an effective workforce, it makes a lot of sense to offer preventative healthcare benefits. Many companies today are offering benefits that go beyond traditional health insurance to help employees stay healthy and productive.

Here’s a quick look into how these programs work and how they differ from regular health insurance.

What Are Preventive Healthcare Benefits?

Preventative healthcare benefits are programs that help employees maintain their health. While most health insurance plans cover some level of preventative health services, many employers are now offering their staff extra benefits as a supplement to insurance.

A preventative healthcare benefits program can bring together a few or many different health-related services. For instance, benefits could include access to telemedicine, biometric screenings, mental health programs, or even fitness coaching.

These types of benefits are quite popular with workers. They show employees you care about their health and encourage them to take care of themselves. With a preventative healthcare benefits program, your staff will likely be healthier, happier, and more productive.

Preventative Healthcare Benefits vs. Insurance

Some preventative healthcare benefits programs can stand alone. However, these programs are usually intended to be a supplement, not a substitute for a regular health insurance plan.

In many cases, preventative health benefits aim to help employees lead healthier lives in ways that go beyond medical care. For example, the benefits could include exercise coaching or access to a mindfulness app. Some plans also offer coverage for prescription drugs, telehealth appointments, and fixed indemnity payments for hospitalization.

Why Offer Preventative Healthcare Benefits?

Help Employees Stay Productive

Preventative health benefits usually make it easier, more affordable, or more convenient for employees to take care of themselves. When employees are healthy, they’re more likely to be productive at work.

For example, a benefits program may come with an app employees can use to keep track of their health status, schedule telemedicine appointments, or boost their motivation to exercise. Even employees who already track their health metrics may appreciate a user-friendly app. 

Gain Tax Benefits For Your Business

Some health benefits programs, like LG Resources’ program, are optimized for tax benefits. You can deduct the premiums pre-tax, and the tax savings often cover more than the full cost of the plan. As a result, your employees will actually get slightly higher take-home pay, and your company will be slightly more profitable. 

The average employer that uses LG Resources’ preventative health benefits program saves $700 per enrolled employee each year. These savings largely come from reduced FICA/FUTA obligations and are a direct cash flow increase, not a tax credit. If you have 100,000 employees, you can expect about 75% enrollment and annual savings of over $52 million from our program. You only need to pay a flat administrative fee for this benefits program out of your payroll tax savings.

LG Resources’ program is compliant with IRS guidance, including Section 125 of the tax code. It is considered a carrier-based, fully insured, limited medical benefit plan. It’s also state-licensed and actuarial certified.

If this sounds too good to be true, keep in mind that the government views tax benefits for preventative healthcare programs as “pennies now vs. dollars later.” If Americans have good preventative healthcare, they may be less likely to develop chronic diseases before they end up on Medicare or Medicaid. The federal government offers incentives now to save taxpayers from having to cover more expensive healthcare costs later on.

Attract and Retain Great Employees

Health benefits of all kinds tend to be popular with employees. A preventative health benefit like LG Resources’ program is even more popular than most because it saves employees money. Our program has no out-of-pocket costs for employees — in other words, no copays or deductibles. 

Once employees are enrolled, their net pay usually increases due to tax savings and the post-tax claim payments they will receive on their paychecks. As a result, they end up with slightly more money in addition to their new preventative health benefits. On average, employees save $5 - $40 per paycheck.

Both new and existing employees will be interested in this program. With great employee benefits, your organization can attract more talent and retain staff longer.

Types of Preventative Care You Can Offer

Preventative health benefit programs can cover a wide range of services. The LG Resources program includes:

• Coaching
• Behavior change learning activities
• Mental and behavioral health programs
• WellMetrics® biometric screenings and lab testing
• Fixed indemnity payments for hospitalization
• Prescription drug coverage
• 24/7 telemedicine access
• And more!

Find the Best Employee Benefits With LG Resources

LG Resources helps employers save money and time on every aspect of their operations. With a healthy, productive workforce, you can make more time for the tasks you care about most. We offer a variety of employee benefits solutions, including preventative health benefit programs.

Contact LG Resources today to see whether our net-zero-cost preventative health benefits make sense for your organization.