Financial Planning
Employee Benefit Plans

Walking path in the Bird Sanctuary behind our home

Many employers offer employee benefit plans which include life insurance and health and/or dental benefits, and may include short and/or long term disability insurance and critical illness insurance. The employer usually pays between 50% and 100% of the cost of the plan.

I usually recommend that the employer pay 100% of any health and dental premiums as this is most tax effective. I also recommend that the employees pay for the life, disability and critical illness portion of the plan so that they will not pay taxes if they make a claim.

It should be noted that the health costs in an employee benefit plan are increasing at about 15% to 17% annually due increased costs of drugs, downloading of government plans, and the aging work force. The dental costs are increasing at about 6% annually. This means that many employers are cutting benefits to save money.