Educate clients on strengthening their benefits package with strategic add-ons

When advising your clients on crafting a competitive employee benefits package, emphasize the importance of diversifying offerings to meet the varied needs of their workforce. By enhancing dental plans with additional benefits, employers can significantly increase employee satisfaction and retention. Here are six strategic ways to enrich dental plans, making them more attractive and valuable to employees.

Integrate vision insurance

Encouraging your clients to include vision insurance alongside dental coverage is a strategic move toward holistic health benefits. Vision coverage is not just an added benefit — it’s a proactive approach to health management, helping to detect early signs of potential health issues and reducing overall healthcare costs.

Highlight these key advantages to your clients:

• Preventive care: Regular eye exams can detect health issues early on, preventing costly treatments later and maintaining overall wellness.
• Comprehensive coverage: Vision plans typically include annual eye exams, prescription glasses, and contact lenses. They may also cover specialty eyewear such as bifocals and progressives and offer discounts on elective vision correction procedures like LASIK.
• Cost savings and convenience: By integrating vision with dental benefits, employers can reduce the out-of-pocket costs associated with routine eye care. Vision plans also provide easy access to a broad network of eye care professionals, ensuring employees can receive efficient and timely care.

Educate your clients about the integral role of vision coverage in enhancing employee benefits packages. Learn more about the value of vision insurance.

Support with student loan repayment and savings programs

Educating your clients about the importance of offering comprehensive financial benefits is essential. Financial burdens from student loans and higher education costs can impede employees’ ability to focus on retirement savings. By advising your clients to support their workforce with student loan repayment assistance and college savings plans, you can help employees balance immediate financial needs with long-term goals. This approach not only enhances employee satisfaction and retention but also boosts diversity and engagement within the workforce.

Ameritas, in partnership with Nelnet, Inc., provides the BenefitEd program, which offers employer-matched contributions for both student loans and college savings, adding significant value to employee benefits packages. Here are the key services you can highlight to your clients:

• Options for student loan refinancing
• Tuition reimbursement programs
• Integrated solutions for college and retirement savings

Guide your clients toward making informed decisions about student loan assistance benefits.

Include LASIK benefits

LASIK eye surgery has become a valuable option in vision care, appealing to various age groups. This procedure not only improves productivity and self-assurance by reducing dependence on glasses and contacts but also offers lasting enhancements in vision quality. By integrating the LASIK Advantage program into a benefits package, you provide clients with a way to accumulate credits toward refractive surgeries. This addition enriches your offerings by providing a substantial, life-enhancing solution to vision correction. Inform your clients about the transformative benefits of LASIK and how it aligns with a comprehensive approach to employee wellness and satisfaction.

Read more about LASIK and its benefits.

Offer individual dental and vision benefits

Offering individual dental and vision insurance plans to part-time employees and dependents who age out of regular coverage is a strategic approach that doesn’t require employer contributions to monthly premiums. This policy extends coverage to a broader segment of the workforce and also aligns with the growing trend of supporting gig economy workers and those in transitional life stages. By providing these benefits, employers can:

• Enhance employee retention: Secure the loyalty of part-time workers and aging dependents by ensuring access to essential health services without the financial burden of full premiums.
• Increase job satisfaction: Employees who feel their health needs are recognized and supported are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and remain with the company longer.
• Support life transitions: Whether it’s young adults transitioning out of parental coverage or employees moving into retirement, individual plans provide continuity of care that eases these life changes.
• Broaden inclusivity: Make your workplace more inclusive by offering benefits that cater to diverse employee needs, including those not eligible for traditional group plans.

Learn more about why individual plan benefits are a good option for your clients.

Enhance plans with rewards or incentives

Including features like Dental Rewards in your client’s plan design encourages members to maintain good oral hygiene and also rewards them for it. With Dental Rewards, members who visit a dentist annually and stay below their benefit threshold can carry over a portion of their unused annual maximum to the next year. This feature enhances the plan’s appeal, attracting new members while retaining existing ones. It supports long-term commitment by providing tangible rewards for preventive care, which can lead to lower overall health costs. Also, the PPO Bonus allows members visiting an Ameritas Dental Network provider to accrue additional rewards, which increases their future benefit potential without raising their premiums. This strategic approach strengthens the relationship between employers, members, and the insurance provider, making it a win-win for all parties involved.

Support hearing health

Hearing loss is a growing health concern, increasingly affecting individuals at younger ages and impacting both professional performance and personal relationships. With Ameritas, SoundCare is a positive addition to employee benefits packages, seamlessly integrating with existing dental plans to provide comprehensive hearing care coverage.

SoundCare provides coverage for essential services such as hearing exams, aids, and ongoing maintenance, helping to manage hearing health proactively. The plan’s structure rewards loyalty and long-term membership by progressively increasing the level of support over time, demonstrating a commitment to the long-term auditory health of your client’s employees. Also, members benefit from the flexibility to choose their preferred hearing care provider and enjoy additional cost savings through Ameritas’ partnerships with national networks, which offer discounted rates on hearing aids and related services.

Educate your clients about these strategic add-ons to their benefits packages to enhance employee satisfaction and retention. Each addition meets a specific health need and contributes to a more attractive and comprehensive benefits offering.