Dependent Care Assistance Plan
Employers, did you know you could be helping your employees SAVE MONEY by setting up a Dependent Care Assistance Plan for them? Also referred to as a dependent care flexible spending account (FSA).
What is this you say? Well, let’s say that lil Jack and Jill need to be in daycare while your employee works hard at their job. We all know that daycare is a serious expense for working parents. What if there was a way to get a little bit of relief? There is! Having a DCAP would allow daycare expenses up to $5000 (for a two-parent family) to be paid for TAX FREE!
For example, a two-parent family earning $60,000 as a household could save 22% of $5000 that they have to spend on daycare expenses which equals a savings of $1,100! This is money that the family is going to have to spend anyway. Why would someone pass up the chance to save $1,100? Often it is because they just didn’t know this was a thing! Or perhaps, their employer hasn’t put together an Employee Benefits package yet.
As we are facing very tight and difficult financial times in our nation right now, helping employees save extra money is a big step towards being a fabulous employer to work for! As you already know, attracting and retaining employees is difficult. Having perks on the job is one of the best ways to accomplish this. While we can’t help with better breakroom snacks, we can help you provide the very best benefit package that helps your employees all year long.
At ANI, we are able to help setup FSA, HRA, HSA and DCAP plans for your company. There is often a lot of confusion around these savings vehicles, but we LOVE to clear up the confusion and make things clear. We have a variety of companies that we work with to achieve this. One of our Third-Party Administrators, Connect Your Care, created this great infographic about DCAPs eligible and ineligible expenses.
Employee Benefits is often a package of core benefits such as medical, dental and vision plans as well as group life, retirement, disability and saving vehicles such as the DCAP we are discussing today. There are other voluntary products that can be setup for employees, at no additional cost to you as an employer, such as accident, cancer, and hospital plans to name a few.
Call us to put together the right Employee Benefits package for your employees. 907-562-3020
Do you know how we get paid? Have you ever thought about that? Are you reading this but aren’t OUR client? Then you REALLY should pay attention. Insurance brokers are paid a percentage of the premium you pay. Think about that for a minute… The commission rate is set and isn’t typically negotiable with the insurance carriers. For example, for a general liability policy, the typical broker commission is 10%. If the annual premium is $13,000 then the insured will have to pay $13,000 and the insurance broker will receive $1,300 of that $13,000.
Do you have employees? Then you need Employment Practices Liability Insurance. EPLI covers businesses against employees who claim that their legal rights as employees have been violated whether intentional or not.
Did you know we give our business clients an HR Benefit Admin/Enrollment platform for FREE? No cost. Zippo – none! How DOES an insurance agency give back to the community? This is one of the ways – by providing free technology tools to put an end to the paper chase and allow companies to administer all things HR from one convenient, organized location.
Did you know your health insurance offers preventative services for FREE – that’s right! There is a whole list of preventative services that you can get for FREE as long as you are seeing a provider who is contracted with your insurance carrier (in-network).
Don’t say NO to COBRA right away! COBRA beneficiaries have 60 days to decide whether they want COBRA coverage. If you enroll in COBRA before the 60 days are up, your coverage is then retroactive, as long as you pay the retroactive premiums. This means that if you incur medical bills during your “election period,” you can retroactively — and legally — elect COBRA and have those bills covered.
One of the most important distinctions you’ll need to know as a homeowner is the difference between replacement cost and market value. Why? Because if you insure your home based on its market value – i.e., its selling price – you may be insuring it for just a fraction of what it would cost to rebuild.
CONSIDER THIS SCENARIO: One of your children’s friends is using your hot tub, slips and falls, and severely injures themselves. While you did not intend for this to happen, you could be held personally liable for this child’s injury and the resulting damages could quickly exceed your insurance limits.
No POOL for you! The Assigned Risk Pool was established by each state to make sure employers could obtain workers compensation insurance even if standard market insurance companies were not willing to provide coverage for their business. Assigned Risk Pool rates are HIGHER than those for the same classification codes in the standard market. Assigned Risk Pool Plans are generally the market of last resort. You DO NOT want to be in THIS pool! You will pay more just to dip your toes here.
