Long-term care coverage is easiest to get while people are working, which is why it belongs at the workplace.
Medical plans and Medicare pay little for extended custodial care, and most employees find out only when a parent needs it. A voluntary long-term care option, priced and enrolled alongside the rest of your ancillary lineup, gives employees who want to plan ahead a way in while they are still healthy enough to qualify.
The right design is the one that will still be affordable when it is needed.
Long-term care is bought decades before it is used. We look at the features that decide whether the coverage survives that long.
Standalone or Combined
Traditional long-term care policies can see premium increases over time. Life or annuity products with a long-term care benefit tend to have more predictable pricing, so we compare both structures before choosing one. Comparing standalone and combined policies shows employees how each one handles future premium changes.
Underwriting at Enrollment
Group offerings often ease health questions during the initial enrollment window. That window is the main reason to offer coverage at work, so we time and promote it carefully. Easier underwriting at initial enrollment is the key advantage of group long-term care insurance.
Benefit Triggers
Coverage usually pays when someone cannot perform basic daily activities or has a severe cognitive impairment. We read the definitions, because they decide whether a claim is paid at all. Clear benefit triggers decide the value of long-term care coverage.
Portability
An employee who leaves should be able to keep the policy. We confirm that before enrollment, since coverage lost at a job change defeats the purpose. Portable coverage is essential for group long-term care insurance, so employees keep it through a job change.
Long-term care does not follow the tax rules of your other benefits.
Employers often assume long-term care can run through the same pre-tax payroll setup as dental and vision. It cannot, and the setup has to reflect that from the start.
Outside the Cafeteria Plan
The tax code excludes long-term care insurance from the benefits a cafeteria plan may offer, so employee premiums cannot be deducted pre-tax through it. We set up payroll deductions accordingly. Long-term care premiums are paid after tax through payroll, outside the Section 125 plan.
HSA Interaction
Holding long-term care coverage does not affect HSA eligibility, and qualified premiums can be paid from an HSA within age-based limits. That makes the two a natural pairing, and a CPA confirms the details for each employee. Long-term care insurance and HSAs work well together.
Employer Contributions
An employer can pay for long-term care coverage, including for selected executives. The tax treatment of that choice is a CPA’s call, so we bring one in before it is designed. Employer-paid long-term care deserves careful tax review. Confirm the treatment with your CPA.
Nobody enrolls in long-term care by accident. The explanation carries the program.
Long-term care is unfamiliar and feels distant. We present it alongside the ancillary lineup, with plain examples of what care costs families and what the policy would pay.
Who It Fits
Employees in mid-career, especially those caring for a parent, tend to see the need most clearly, so we aim the message at them rather than the whole workforce. Targeted messaging improves long-term care insurance enrollment among the employees most likely to value it.
Spouses and Family
Many programs let spouses and sometimes parents apply. We check eligibility rules, because family access is often what makes the offer worth the effort. Family eligibility can make group long-term care insurance more valuable to employees caring for aging parents.
Not for Everyone
For some employees, other savings come first. We say so in the materials, which keeps the offer credible and the enrollments deliberate. Honest positioning keeps long-term care enrollment deliberate and keeps the offer credible with employees. Some employees should save first.
What employers ask about long-term care.
Does Medicare cover long-term care?
Medicare covers limited skilled care after a hospital stay, not ongoing help with daily living. That gap is exactly what long-term care insurance is meant to fill. Long-term care insurance fills a gap Medicare does not cover, which is why it is worth explaining before retirement.
Is there a minimum participation requirement?
Some group programs require a minimum number of enrollees. We check before launch, so the offer does not fail after employees have been told about it. Checking participation minimums protects a long-term care launch from failing after employees have been told.
Can it be an executive benefit?
Yes. Employer-paid long-term care for key people is a well-established executive benefit, and it sits naturally beside the other retention tools we design. Long-term care insurance can be a strong executive benefit for owners and key employees. It pairs well with other retention tools.
Group long-term care insurance in Bloomfield Hills for employees who plan ahead
Many employees find out too late that their health plan does not pay for long-term care. When a parent or spouse needs daily help, the family often pays out of pocket. Employers hear about it when a good employee cuts hours to become a caregiver. Group long-term care insurance in Bloomfield Hills gives your team a way to plan for that cost.
We are an independent employee benefits consulting firm, in business since 2007. No carrier owns us. We help employers in Bloomfield Hills, Troy, Rochester Hills, Novi and across Michigan decide whether this benefit fits.
Group Long-Term Care Insurance
Long-term care is help with everyday life over a long stretch of time. The technical phrase is activities of daily living. That means basic tasks like bathing, dressing, eating and moving from a bed to a chair. When someone cannot do these on their own, they need care. That care might happen where they live, in assisted living or in a nursing facility.
Regular health plans are built for doctor visits and hospital stays. They generally do not pay for this kind of ongoing custodial care. Group long-term care insurance fills that gap.
Most group plans are voluntary. Employees pay for their own coverage through payroll deduction. Some plans also let employees cover a spouse or parents. Some products combine life insurance with a long-term care benefit, so the policy pays out one way or the other.
We compare carriers and plan designs, check what employees must answer to qualify and set up the enrollment. We explain the plan in plain words, so employees know what they are buying.
Is long-term care insurance worth offering as an employee benefit?
It depends on your team. It tends to matter most to employees in their 40s and 50s. They are often caring for parents and starting to think about their own later years. Younger employees may care less today. Because most group plans are employee-paid, adding one can cost the employer very little. The main cost is time spent on enrollment and education.
What should we look for in a group long-term care plan?
Look at the daily or monthly benefit, how long benefits last and the waiting period before benefits start. Check whether coverage stays with the employee if they leave. Ask whether rates can rise later. Read how the plan defines when care is needed. We line these details up side by side, so you can compare plans fairly.
Common questions
Do employees have to answer health questions?
Sometimes. Group plans often allow easier enrollment than individual policies, but rules vary by carrier. We check each carrier’s rules on guaranteed issue and health questions before you choose a group long-term care insurance plan for your employees. Rules vary by carrier.
Can employees keep coverage if they leave?
Many group plans allow it. We confirm the terms before you choose a plan. Portability terms and the premium after leaving differ by carrier, so we compare them side by side when choosing a group long-term care plan. Terms matter at exit.
Can we add this at any time of year?
Often, yes. Many employers add it at open enrollment in the fall. Group long-term care insurance can usually start at a renewal or an off-cycle date, and we time the enrollment window so employees have space to consider it. Timing is flexible.
Talk to us about group long-term care insurance in Bloomfield Hills
Book a 30-minute call and we will walk through group long-term care insurance in Bloomfield Hills for your team. Visit us at 41000 Woodward Avenue, Suite 350 East, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304, or call 248.370.8853.
Where the Rules Come From.
The laws and rules named on this page link to the statute or regulation they come from. This is general information, not legal or tax advice, and rules change, so check the current text.
COBRA Continuation Coverage (29 U.S.C. 1161)
Requires many group health plans to offer temporary continuation coverage after a qualifying event.
Cafeteria Plans (26 U.S.C. 125)
The tax code section that lets employees pay certain benefit premiums before tax.
Health Savings Accounts (26 U.S.C. 223)
Tax rules for health savings accounts paired with qualifying high-deductible health plans.
Send us your renewal.
We’ll tell you whether it looks competitive, where we see opportunity, and the five questions we’d put to your carrier. No cost, and no obligation to move anything.
The renewal letter
Your current plan summary
Contribution split by tier
Enrolled counts by tier
Four documents — two more if your group is 50 or more. Nothing else; every extra one is a reason to postpone.
An independent employee benefits consulting firm. We look at the entire benefits program — cost, plan performance, risk and administration.
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