Group Life Insurance Bloomfield Hills Employees Actually Understand

We are CFH Insurance Consultants, an independent employee benefits consulting firm on Woodward Avenue. We have been in business since 2007, and no carrier owns us. We help employers in Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, Troy, Southfield and across the whole state of Michigan set up life coverage their people understand.

Life Insurance

Life insurance looks simple on paper. It still has more moving parts than most people expect.

Group term life is the base plan. The employer pays for it. It is often a flat amount, like $25,000, or a multiple of salary. “Term” means it covers people while they work for you. It does not build cash value.

Voluntary life sits on top. Employees choose more coverage for themselves, a spouse or their children. They pay for it through payroll. Getting coverage through a group is often easier than buying a personal policy.

Guaranteed issue is the amount a person can get with no health questions. Above that amount, the carrier may ask for a health form. That form is called evidence of insurability. New hires should know their sign-up window, because missing it can mean health questions later.

Portability and conversion matter when someone leaves. Portability lets a person keep group term coverage after the job ends, often at group rates. Conversion turns it into an individual policy, often at a higher price. Both have short deadlines.

As your group life insurance Bloomfield Hills broker, we compare carriers, read the plan wording and help keep you ERISA compliant. Open enrollment is in the fall, and most January 1 renewals arrive in October and November. That is a good time to check benefit amounts and remind employees to update their beneficiaries.

Why does group life over $50,000 show up on an employee’s W-2?

The IRS treats employer-paid group term life above $50,000 as taxable to the employee. The value of that extra coverage is called imputed income. It is added to wages, even though no cash changes hands, and payroll has to report it.

This catches people off guard. If your plan pays two times salary, anyone earning more than $25,000 a year crosses the line. Some employers keep the employer-paid benefit at $50,000. Then they let people buy more through voluntary life with after-tax pay, which generally does not create imputed income. We walk through both setups with you and your payroll team before open enrollment.

Group Long-Term Care Insurance

Long-term care means help with daily living, like bathing, dressing or eating. It can happen at home, in assisted living or in a nursing home. Regular health insurance and Medicare usually do not pay for long stretches of this kind of care.

Group long-term care insurance lets employees buy this coverage through work. It is usually voluntary, so employees pay the premium. Some plans let spouses and even parents apply too. Carrier choices can be narrower than for life or disability coverage.

Some newer products pair life insurance with a long-term care benefit. If an employee needs care, part of the death benefit can be paid out early. We lay out the options side by side, with the price and the fine print, so you can decide if it belongs next to the group life insurance Bloomfield Hills employees already have.

More on Group Long-Term Care Insurance →

Executive Benefits

Owners and senior leaders often outgrow the standard group plan. Group life and disability plans usually have caps. For a high earner, the group plan may cover only a small part of their pay. The group life insurance Bloomfield Hills executives get through work may stop well short of what their family would need.

Executive benefits fill that gap. Common pieces include:

• Supplemental life and disability coverage for key leaders, added on top of the group plan
• Key person coverage, which pays the business if a leader it depends on dies or becomes disabled
• Nonqualified deferred compensation questions. This is a plan that lets an executive put off part of their pay until later.

Deferred compensation raises tax and legal questions. Our clients get access to CPAs and ERISA attorneys through the firm, so those questions go to the right expert. We coordinate the insurance side and keep the whole picture in one place.

More on Executive Benefits →

Who’s the best group life insurance broker near me?

Look for three things. The first is independence. A broker that no carrier owns can quote several carriers and tell you plainly how they compare.

The second is a team, not one person. For proper coverage of an account we work in teams of 5: an account executive, an account manager, a plan analyst, customer service and IT. If one person is out, your questions still get answered.

The third is someone close by. Our office is at 41000 Woodward Avenue, Suite 350 East, near Birmingham and West Bloomfield. We are a member of the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber. When you meet any broker, ask how they handle portability paperwork and the $50,000 tax rule. The answer tells you a lot.

What do I do if an employee is leaving and wants to keep their life insurance?

Act quickly. Portability and conversion windows are short, often just weeks. Here is a simple checklist:

1. Check your plan certificate for the portability and conversion rules.
2. Give the employee the carrier forms and the deadline in writing before their last day.
3. Tell them the price may change, and that a converted policy can cost more.
4. Keep a copy of what you sent.

If you are not sure what your plan allows, call us. We can read the certificate with you and get the right forms from the carrier. Group life insurance Bloomfield Hills employers offer only helps a departing employee if they hear about their options in time.