Voluntary Benefits Provide Options Amid Rising Health Care Costs

Voluntary Benefits Provide Options Amid Rising Health Care Costs
Women represent 51 percent of the population in the United States and nearly 47 percent of the labor force. As of 2006, there were an estimated 10.4 million privately-held firms in the United States in which women were half or majority owners. Women businesses account for 70 percent of all new businesses opened over the past decade. They generate $1.9 trillion in annual sales, employ 12.8 million people and spend an estimated $546 billion annually on salaries and benefits.
Despite this growing financial success among women, the increasing cost of health care, can be a major concern for female consumers as they look for ways to balance routine expenses with the rising price of medical treatment. The apprehension of coping with mounting living expenses is not limited to employees alone. Business owners may also distress over how to handle rising costs, so they too are searching for options that will reduce their operating expenses. An overwhelming concern for women in both groups is the continuing spike in health care costs.
For more than 50 years, Aflac has provided guaranteed-renewable insurance policies for millions of people worldwide. Aflac’s voluntary benefits can offer two major advantages for businesses and their employees. First, we all know employees who have switched jobs for the same pay but greater benefits. Adding voluntary benefits can help recruit and retain employees by bolstering benefit packages at little to no cost to the business. Second, Aflac policies can provide added-value for businesses of all sizes from small companies with as little as three employees to large corporations with a huge workforce.
Voluntary benefits provide a cost-efficient way for employees to cope with rising health care costs while also presenting them with more options for obtaining quality medical care and covering their routine expenses in case of an untimely medical event.
Few American workers have the recommended three months of personal savings to cover living expenses in case of a rainy day. Making Aflac’s voluntary benefits available to your employees is not only a great way to assist in recruiting top talent, it can also help your workers with financial planning, allowing them to be better prepared to handle expenses incurred from an unexpected health emergency.
Aflac’s voluntary benefits are paid directly to the policy holder and can be used toward expenses like co-payments, mortgage, groceries, and car payments while employees are away from work recovering from an injury or illness. And the policies are portable, which means policyholders can take the same benefits at the same premium if they change jobs.
Whether a new entrepreneur recruiting your first employee, or a seasoned businesswoman looking for ways to enhance your benefit offerings, Aflac products can help you in managing health care costs while providing added-value for your workforce.
Janice Baxter is an Aflac Agent in the Southern California region. For more information about voluntary benefits, please call Aflac’s Customer Service Center at 1-800-992-3522 or (909) 225-0806, or visit aflac.com.


SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau