Employee Benefits

Nothing is more important than the health & well being of your family.    At The Diamond Benefit Group, we offer a wide variety of highly rated insurance programs and years of proven industry experience. Specializing in unique group programs, our Life / Health Benefits team can custom tailor a benefits & insurance package just for you and your employees.

Many businesses today face challenges in attracting and retaining top employees.   As a business owner, you know the importance of employee benefits and their contribution to your business success. We will work with you to develop a program tailored to your individual circumstances.

401(k) Retirement Plan

401(K) plans are tax-deferred retirement savings plans for employees. The employer sets them up and each company has a slightly different 401(k). They are part of a family of retirement plans known as "defined contribution" plans - the amount contributed is defined by the employer or the employee. 

How do 401(K)s work?

When you join a 401(K) plan, you tell your employer how much money you want to contribute to your account. This amount is deducted from your salary before taxes are applied, so you pay less income tax. More importantly, the money is deducted even before you have received it, making it the easiest savings plan to contribute to. Your employer may match a portion of your contribution. The money is invested by the plan administrator (on your behalf) in mutual funds, bonds, money market accounts, etc. You decide the mix of investments. They usually have a list of investment vehicles you can choose from as well as some guidelines for the level of risk you are willing to take. Since the plan is an incentive for retirement savings, there is one condition: if you withdraw the money before you are 59 ½  years old, you will have to pay tax as well as a 10% penalty fine to the IRS.

Why should you invest in a 401(K) plan?

There are several reasons why investing in a 401(K) plan is advantageous to you:

• The money you contribute is free from Federal and State taxes.
• Your employer receives tax benefits for contributing to your 401(K) - this is extra money for you
• There is a range of investment options and an expert does the actual investing according to your directions.
• Any gains and earnings through this investment are also tax deferred.
• You can take loans and hardship withdrawals under certain circumstances if allowed by the plan
• The money is deducted even before you receive your salary, making it easy to for regular saving & investing.

Did you know that Increasing your retirement contribution percentage by just 1% can give your future a real boost?

Increasing the amount you contribute to your retirement account by just one percent can really boost your savings potential.  Assume you are making $35,000 per year and contributing 5% of your salary to your 401k.  That equals around $146 per month.  In 20 years assuming a hypothetical rate of return of 8%, that savings could potentially grow to almost $86K.  By increasing by just 1% (which is only around $30 more per month), than can potentially mean an additional $17,176 in twenty years to your retirement!

When you put your money in your retirement account, keep it there! 

If you take money out of your 401k to pay off your debts, you will most likely regret it later.  Taking out a loan or an early withdrawal will reduce your eventual retirement account.  By taking money out of your 401k account, you reduce the benefits of  tax-free compounding that is key to building up a substantial balance.    Let's take Bob who is 35 years old earning $40,000 a year and has a 401k balance of $20,000.  Bob contributes 6% of his salary ($2,400/year) and his employer match is 3% ($1,200).   At a rate of return of 8% at age 65, his retirement nest egg is $583,723.  We will assume Bob took a $10,000 loan out when he was 35 and took 5 years to pay it back at an interest rate of 5%.  When Bob reaches age 65, his account is now worth $458,673.    So it cost Bob $125,050 to borrow $10,000.  That is the effect of tax-free compounding! 

Buy / Sell Protection

If you have a partner in business, you have a need for insurance so that in the event of death or disability, you can buy out your partner's interest without having to take out a loan or liquidate company assets. This is also important where children and taxes are involved.

Dental Insurance

Dental Insurance is one of the benefits most requested by employees. Many employers provide dental insurance for their employees, but a growing number of employers are offering this as a voluntary benefit that is paid 100% by the employee through payroll deductions. Most dental plans provide full coverage with a 100% benefit for preventive exams, an 80% benefit for basic services such as fillings and root canals, and 50% benefit for major services and prosthodontics such as dentures, crowns, etc.

Some dental insurance companies provide a dental buy-up plan which allows the employer to purchase a base plan, while employees purchase additional benefits as needed. Another newer option for dental insurance is a dual option plan that allows each employee to choose a basic plan or a more comprehensive plan based on his needs. This is a voluntary benefit, which means that each employee gets the coverage he needs for himself and his family.

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)

Employer-sponsored flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are benefit plan arrangements that allow employees to pay for certain health care or dependent care expenses on a pre-tax basis. There are two FSA options. A Health Care FSA is an alternate way of paying your share of your health care costs. In the same manner, a Dependent/Child Care FSA reimburses you for expenses for dependents and childcare which are necessary to allow you and your spouse to work.

When you create an FSA, you choose to have a specific amount of your annual salary withheld from your paycheck and deposited to your FSA. These withholdings are on a pre-tax basis. Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA’s)  are benefit options designed to increase your disposable income by reducing the amount of taxes you pay. An FSA enables you to use pretax dollars to pay for qualified health care expenses which are not reimbursed under any health care plan or insurance plan, while a Dependent Care FSA pays for your qualified dependent/child care expenses. However, FSA funds are not interchangeable.

The maximum amount of expenses an employee may be reimbursed for under a dependent care FSA is $5,000 annually ($2,500 for a married taxpayer filing separately). There is no statutory limit on the amount of reimbursement employees may receive under a health care FSA. Nevertheless, employers usually set a maximum limit (e.g., $3,000) to protect themselves against major losses under the "uniform coverage" rule, which requires that employers make the full amount of coverage elected under the plan available to employees from the first day of the plan year, regardless of how much they have actually contributed to the account.

To maintain a tax-qualified status, flexible spending account plans must comply with special requirements under Internal Revenue Code Section 125. They must also meet some general rules that applies to all cafeteria plans, including written plan, reporting, and record keeping requirements.

Flexible spending accounts offer significant tax advantages. Employees do not pay federal income, state income, or FICA taxes on the salary they contribute to a FSA plan. Employers, in turn, do not pay matching FICA (7.65%) and FUTA taxes because employees' gross incomes are significantly reduced. A health care FSA, which allows employees to pay co-payments and deductibles with tax-free dollars, can go a long way to helping employees shoulder their share of the burden. FSAs are excellent tools for employees in savings significant tax dollars especially in this day of rising health care costs. 

Group Health

At The Diamond Benefit Group, we are committed to health insurance for both our commercial customers, who need group coverage for their employees, as well as the individual or family that needs coverage.

With the changing face of health insurance in today's market, we at The Diamond Benefit Group are staying abreast of the latest developments that will affect the coverage you expect as well as the cost impact upon you.

We have the best health insurance markets available in our area, and we will always present to our customers the best options at the best price available.

Group Life

Life insurance is an integral part of most employee benefits packages. When provided by an employer, employees appreciate the value of life coverage and the additional security it provides to their families.

Employers have a wide variety of optional plan designs to customize a Group Life plan. Optional coverages include Voluntary Life insurance, Supplemental Life coverage, Accidental Death and Dismemberment policies, and Dependent Life insurance. The premium paid for Group Life is generally a business deduction, and this stand-alone contract is usually less expensive than the life coverage provided with medical insurance.

Group Vision

A Group Vision plan is especially attractive for employers because it is inexpensive to offer, yet it's another employee favorite. This is a separate plan that provides coverage for eye exams and/or for frames, lenses and contact lenses. Many times the basic health plan may provide for routine eye examinations. However, it will usually not provide any benefit for frames, lenses or contact lenses; this is where a separate group vision benefit would be used.

Health Savings Accounts (HSA)

A Health Savings Account (HSA) helps you save money on health care. By making you a part of the medical services decision process, HSAs are designed to help you manage medical expenses and reduce the continuing raising of health care expenses. Equally as important, the money you save remains part of your retirement account, even if you leave your present employer. You can also save the money in your account and grow your account through investment earnings. Funds in the account can grow tax-free through investment earnings, just like an IRA In short, if you don’t use all the money in your HSA for medical expenses, it can accumulate as tax-free savings for your retirement. One final benefit, HSAs can pay for many more procedures than were ever allowed before by government sponsored programs. Health Savings Accounts help you save money on unavoidable expenses and build investment savings for your retirement.

An HSA is a form of health insurance coverage that includes several parts:

• A tax-exempt personal savings account to be used for qualified medical expenses.
• A health plan with a high deductible health plan (HDHP) with a high deductible (e.g. $1,100 for self-only coverage and $2,200 for family coverage).
• A health plan with out-of-pocket limitations (e.g. $5,600 for self-only coverage and $11,200 for family coverage.
• Contribution limits are  indexed year. Catch-up contributions are allowed for individuals 55 & older through Medicare.

Account funds are used to cover medical expenses before the plan deductible has been met. Unspent account balances accumulate and accrue interest from year-to-year. Unlike amounts in Flexible Spending Accounts that are forfeited if not used by the end of the year, unused funds remain available for use in later years. Once the health plan’s annual deductible has been met, coverage resembles conventional insurance, typically in the form of a preferred provider organization (PPO) with little-to-no cost sharing for in-network services, and limits on total out-of-pocket costs. 

An HSA account is much like an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), except that deposits and qualified withdrawals are tax-exempt. Individuals and their employers may deposit money into the HSA up to an annual dollar limit, with extra catch-up contributions allowed for those ages 55 to 65. Account balances can be used to pay for a wide range of medical expenses — including some ordinarily not covered by insurance — as well as some insurance premiums. HSA funds also can be used to pay medical expenses of family members not covered by the high-deductible plan. After reaching age 65, you may use HSA funds to augment regular income by paying ordinary income tax on withdrawals for any non-medical expenses. Like IRAs, HSA funds can be invested in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Since you own the account, it is fully portable regardless of any job changes.

HSAs do not replace a normal or typical health insurance policy. They are designed as a supplement to a high-deductible health insurance policy. Because the HSA is tied to a high-deductible health insurance policy, you will “pay as you go” for medical care, using your tax-free HSA dollars, until you spend up to the deductible. Once you meet the deductible, the health insurance pays for most of your medical expenses for the rest of the year. You may choose your own doctor and level of care. By themselves, HSAs are savings vehicles — not insurance policies — so they don’t restrict your access to coverage or your choice of providers.

The HSA program has two parts: a high-deductible health plan (which usually costs less than other health plans) and a tax-advantaged, portable savings account for payment of current medical expenses which builds like a Medical IRA. 

Key Person Coverage

Your key employees are your most valuable business asset. Their skill, knowledge and experience are your real profit makers. Without them, the success and growth of your business could be in jeopardy. Key employee insurance is designed to protect your business from the adversities associated with the loss of a key employee, manager or executive. The death or disability of a key employee could result in a substantial financial loss due to hiring and training a replacement, lost sales, and/or slowed production.

Kidnap & Ransom

As your company expands globally, so do your exposures. Companies with international operations and executives or staff who travel internationally may be targets for kidnappers and extortionists.

While no one can predict where or when a kidnapper or extortionist might strike, there are steps that you can take to protect your executives and families and prepare for a possible threat. A Kidnap & Ransom policy should be an integral part of your risk management program.

The Kidnap & Ransom policy will provide coverage for the following:

• Ransom and extortion payments as a result of a kidnapping or extortion threat.
• Loss of the ransom or extortion payment whilst being delivered.
• Expense coverage as a result of a ransom or extortion demand which includes fees and expenses of independent negotiators, and travel and accommodation expenses.
• Legal liability coverage protection in the event it is alleged the insured was negligent in a hostage retrieval.
• Political threat coverage for expenses when a person is wrongfully detained by anyone acting for a government or with the government's approval.

Long-Term Care (LTC)

Long-Term Care is the type of care received either at home or in a facility, when someone needs assistance with activities of daily living, such as bathing and dressing due to an accident, an illness or advancing age.

Rising life expectancy means that the potential need for "long-term care" grows with every passing year of your life. The likelihood is that you or a member of your family will need long-term assistance due to a prolonged illness, a disability, or general deterioration of your health and ability to perform routine daily activities. Most long term care expenses are not covered by Social Security or Medicare, Medicare Supplement ("Medigap"), or private health insurance. Medicaid pays for nearly half of all nursing home care, but you must meet federal poverty guidelines and may have to "spend down" most of your assets on health care.

Long-Term Disability (LTD)

In the event that an accident or illness prevents an employee from working for an extended period of time, the financial impact can be severe for the employee and employers. Long Term Disability (LTD) protection is designed to help cover the employee's expenses while their regular income is interrupted. Flexible plan design options and benefit alternatives are available to meet specific needs. This valuable protection is available with low-cost, tax-deductible premiums.

Short-Term Disability (STD)

A steady income is essential for most people. If an accident or illness interrupts that income, it affects both the employee and employer. Short Term Disability (STD) protection is designed to replace a portion of the wages lost when a short term disability occurs. An affordable, flexible STD plan can provide needed benefits to both the employer and employee.

Travel Insurance

When you travel abroad, one of the most important financial considerations is how to protect you and your family's health. Without proper coverage, an illness or injury abroad can turn into a financial disaster. Whether you are a corporate traveler, an international student studying abroad, a family on vacation or reunion, or an individual traveling abroad for work,  pleasure, or education, don't let your trip be ruined by an accident or unexpected medical emergency. Traditional sources of US private health insurance will not meet your needs. Geographical exclusions and provider limitations common to these policies will restrict or even eliminate the coverage available to you while you are outside the US. At the same time, you may not be eligible for participation in the government-sponsored plans in the country where you reside. 

The Diamond Benefit Group offers you international travel health insurance through MultiNational Underwriters® providing the global coverage necessary to make sure this doesn't happen. Your health and safety should be at the top of your list when you are planning a trip.

Travel Insurance Quote