Employee Benefits Insurance

As your Group Benefits Broker and Consultant, Brown and Brown commits to developing the best group benefits program by offering you a comprehensive selection of products, resources and value added services.

An important incentive to a prospective employee is the Benefits Package offered.  Employers must offer a competitive, comprehensive and attractive benefits package in order to attract and retain a quality work force.

A benefits package should be customized and adjusted to meet the needs of your business in an every changing market.  The solutions for your benefits needs today may become very different tomorrow.  Our goal at Brown & Brown, Leesburg, is to establish a long term relationship with you and your employees so that as you grow, we are here to advise and assist you in managing your Employee Benefits Package.

We offer programs with wide range of benefit levels that can be custom tailored to meet the specific needs of your business and employees.  As an independent agency, we have relationships with many of the carriers that you are familiar with.  As part of the 6th largest insurance intermediary in the nation, we have the knowledge and respect that enables us to put together a comprehensive benefits solution for your business and your valued employees.

Brown & Brown, Leesburg, makes a firm commitment of service to each of its clients. This commitment assures you that our benefits team is working hard every day to earn and retain your business.  Please allow us the opportunity to assist you.

RESOURCES AND VALUE ADDED SERVICES:

• Product and Value Consultation;
• Comparative Plan Quotes and Analysis;
• Benefit Compensation Statements of Value;
• Enrollment Services;
• Administrative and Employee Communications;
• Disease Management and Corporate Wellness Resources;
• Education and Empowerment;
• Claims Analysis and Utilization Review;
• COBRA Administration Resources;
• Federal and State Legislative Guidance and Compliance Checklists;
• Section 125 (POP) Plan Administration Resources;
• Member Service Assistance;
• Industry News Releases;
• Client Specific Customer Service Timeline;
• Strategic Market Analysis;
• Carrier Contract Representation;
• Financial Product Administration Resources– FSA, HRA, HSA;
• Comprehensive Benefits and HR Assistance Resources.

Health Insurance Frequently Asked Questions

Health Insurance

Question: What is HMO Health Insurance?
Answer: Requires a referral from a primary care doctor in order to see a specialist. Although HMOs offer no out of network benefits, they normally have the lowest cost.

Question: What is Open Access HMO Insurance?
Answer: Just like an HMO except that no referral is required for specialist care. Subscribers can use any network doctor for one low co-pay.

Question: What is POS Health Insurance?
Answer: A point of Service plan is just like an open access HMO except it will include out of network benefits which are paid at a much higher co-pay.

Question: What is PPO Health Insurance?
Answer: A ppo health plan allows subscribers to use any network doctor available anywhere in the country and it will have out of network benefits as will. PPOs are the least restrictive form of health insurance.

Question: What are Health Savings accounts?
Answer: A health savings account allows employees to choose a high deductible health insurance policy and then fund that deductible in a tax-free savings account. They can fund up to 100% of the deductible each year and any unused monies roll over. This combination can save employers and employees hundreds of dollars per year in premiums and taxes.

Life Insurance FAQ’s

Question: What is Term Life Insurance?
Answer: Term life offers the most affordable life insurance coverage, with guaranteed premiums up to thirty years. Perfect for families when a large death benefit is needed.

Question: What is Whole Life Insurance?
Answer: Whole life offers a death benefit with cash value accumulation. Premiums remain level for the life of the policy and as the policy builds cash, the money can be borrowed out of the policy and used for any reason.

Question: What is Universal Life Insurance?
Answer: Like whole life insurance, universal life offers level premiums and cash value accumulation. The difference is that universal offers you premium flexibility, you can pay in more or stop paying and let the cash value pay the premium.

Question: What is Impaired Risk Life Insurance?
Answer: Almost anyone can get life insurance today no matter what their health condition is. Even if you have been turned down before, let us get quotes for you, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Question: What is Return of Premium Term?
Answer: With R.O.P. term you pay a little more each month but at the end of the term period, you get all your money back. What a great way to get free life insurance for the life of the policy.

Disability Insurance FAQ’s

Question: What is Short Term Disability?
Answer: Pays 60% of your paycheck if you are unable to work do to accident or sickness after a 7 or 14 day waiting period.

Question: What is Long Term Disability?
Answer: Extends coverage to age 65 with cost of living increases while you are out of work.

Dental Insurance FAQ’s

Question: What is Dental HMO Insurance?
Answer: Dental HMOs are the least costly forms of dental insurance. Although you must use the dentists within a network, there are no waiting periods, pre-existing limitations, or annual maximums.

Question: What is Dental PPO Insurance?
Answer: PPOs allow you the flexibility to use dental providers in or out of network. They cost more then dental HMOs and have limitations on how much dental work will be covered in any one year.

Question: What is Dental Indemnity Insurance?
Answer: Indemnity means that you can go to any dentist you want, you pay the bill, and then you are reimbursed a portion of what you spent. What is paid back to you is outlined in the policy.

Supplemental Insurance FAQ

Question: Group Supplemental Insurance
Answer: Cancer, accident, critical illness, or hospital indemnity. These plans can be offered to employees at no cost to the employer to reimburse the employee for specific expenses due to illness and/or injuries.

Employee Services FAQ’s

Question: What is a Section 125 “cafeteria” Plan?
Answer: A section 125 plan allows employers to take certain employee deductions such as health and dental insurance from the employee’s gross pay. Doing so saves the employee income and fica taxes and savings the employer matching fica deductions. We offer this service at no charge for our clients

Question: What are Cobra Services?
Answer: All employers with more then 20 full time employees (regardless of how many are enrolled in the health plan) are required to notify the employees of their cobra rights upon becoming eligible for benefits and at termination.

Question: Who handles Billing and Claims issues?
Answer: We handle all issues that arise for both the employer and the employees. Use Brown & Brown as your benefits representatives and you will never wait on hold with an insurance company again.

Question: What are Employee Benefits statements?
Answer: Do your employees know the true value of their benefit plans? Do they know how much workers compensation costs, or what you pay in unemployment and fica?. Now you can show them with employee benefit statements. We prepare individualized statements for each employee that calculates their total compensation package, the hidden paycheck that they never see. Again as with all our other services, there is no charge to our clients.

Glossary of Health Insurance Terms

Benefits: The medical services included in a health insurance policy to which the insured person or persons are entitled.

Calendar Year: The time period from January 1 to December 31 in a single year.

Catastrophic Health Insurance: Insurance, with a very high deductible, covering an injury or illness with medical expenses that are above the normal parameters of basic health insurance.

COBRA: “Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act” of 1985 is a regulation that affects most U.S. employers of over 20 employees, whereby they must offer departing employees a continuation of their health insurance; it includes other options.

Co-insurance: The amount of money a health plan will pay for covered expenses, usually expressed in a percentage.

Co-payment: The dollar amount the policyholder pays at each visit for a medical service; it varies according to each insurance policy.

Deductible: The amount of money the policyholder pays for medical bills before insurance starts to pay its part. This is a yearly amount and may be anywhere from several hundred dollars to several thousand per year, depending on the insurance policy.

Group Health Insurance: Health coverage based on a collection of people, whether assembled by an organization or a business. The cost is spread out among the members of the group. Under federal guidelines, a “large employer” is one with 51 or more employees and a “small employer” averages 2 to 50 employees in a calendar year.

HIPAA: “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” gives patients a means to the documents which pertain to their medical care; provides that a person with a pre-existing condition, who has had continuous health coverage for over 12 months, can leave a job and not be turned down for health insurance at a new job.

HMO: “Health Maintenance Organization” is a type of group health plan in which an organization is formed to provide medical care to its members. The physicians and medical personnel work for the HMO and provide medical care to the members of the HMO, with limited referrals to outside specialists. There is often an emphasis on prevention of disease and participation in programs for better health. Recently, members of HMOs may see health care professionals outside of their system, with higher fees. Members usually obtain all of their medical needs from their HMO clinics through managed medical care.

HSA: “Health Savings Account” is a personal savings account set up to be exclusively used for medical expenses and is paired with a high deductible health insurance policy.

Managed Care: Comprehensive health care which is provided to participating members of an organized health care organization through the use of a network of health care providers and facilities; it uses a delivery system that secures cost effective health care.

Maximum Limits: The highest dollar amounts a health insurance plan will pay: 1) for a single claim; 2) over the lifetime of an insured person.

Network: The doctors or other medical providers and facilities that either work for or contract with a group health care organization.

Out-of-Network: Doctors or other medical providers and facilities which either do not work for or which do not contract with a group health care organization.

PCP: “Primary Care Physician” or “Personal Care Provider” is a physician or other medical care provider who participates in a health care system.

Policy: The legal agreement between an insurance company and insured person, whereby the company agrees to pay for the covered medical services included in the agreement and the insured agrees to pay the premium price.

POS: “Point of Service” is a type of group insurance with a combination of HMO and PPO characteristics. The policyholders must use a primary care physician, but they can use other network health providers when needed or go to out-of-network providers, at higher cost.

PPO: “Preferred Provider Organization” is a type of group health plan. The medical professionals in the system agree to accept a standard fee schedule and patient care controls; the system is usually organized by an insurance company. In a PPO, the policyholder can go to any medical provider in the PPO network and pay the co-payment amount for each regular service. If the policyholder chooses to go to an out-of-network provider, he/she often pays that doctor’s fees directly and files for reimbursement from the insurance company. This is a greater cost. For that reason, the PPO system encourages its policyholders to see the doctors and health providers who are part of the system.

Pre-existing Condition: A physical or mental condition which existed before applying for a policy, for which medical care was already recommended or received, and which may not be covered by insurance, or only after a time lapse.

Prescription Plans: An organized plan whereby prescription needs are provided to group members at a lower cost, usually through a vendor with a pharmacy network that covers the whole country and negotiates for lower drug costs.

Provider: A physician, hospital, medical care facility, or other type of medical personnel who provide health care.

Referral: The method whereby a physician directs a patient to the services of another physician.

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