As the cost of health care continues to rise, employers are looking for affordable ways to help employees complement traditional benefits offerings. How can you, as an employer, offer comprehensive benefits while keeping an eye on the bottom line?

Enter – voluntary insurance benefits.

Employee-paid benefits, supplemental insurance and voluntary benefits – these products may have different names, but the concept is the same across the board.

In most cases, voluntary benefits are  100% paid by the employee. Insurance programs are designed to offer cost-effective benefits that are paid when the insured experiences an unforeseen life event. This type of coverage can help employees cover unexpected costs incurred regardless of what their traditional health coverage covers and provides a benefit that can be used however the insured decides.

For employees, investing in voluntary benefits can offer an affordable solution to help bridge the gap where medical insurance might fall short and help relieve some of the financial stress that goes along with unforeseen covered events. Medical bills can be overwhelming, so properly educating your workforce on other options that are offered and communicating enrollment opportunities will help set you and your employees up for success.

In addition to addressing the needs of your existing employee base, voluntary benefits can also serve as a helpful recruiting tool. By offering a diverse array of voluntary insurance options, your organization will remain competitive and perhaps stand out from other companies.

Offering a robust selection of voluntary insurance benefits will not only help employees protect themselves financially with unexpected costs but can also help your company offset the cost of investing in benefits technology.

Why Voya Employee Benefits?

Voya Employee Benefits, through its insurers, ReliaStar Life Insurance Company and ReliaStar Life Insurance Company of New York, has recently become a member of the PlanSource Advantage Program, a strategic partnership program between select carriers and PlanSource. Through the program, Voya Employee Benefits offers a variety of voluntary insurance products for employers to choose from. Employers are free to shop the 10 individual programs and select only the products that make sense for their unique workforce.

The full program includes enrollment options for the following insurance coverages:

• Accident*
• Critical Illness/Specified Disease*
• Hospital Confinement Indemnity*
• Basic Term Life and Voluntary Term Life
• Short-term Disability Income
• Long-term Disability Income
• Stop Loss

*This is a limited benefit policy. This is not health insurance and does not satisfy the requirement of minimum essential coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Why PlanSource?

PlanSource is a strategic benefits administration solution for brokers and employers. Our mobile-friendly platform offers baked in tools to help employees make better benefits decisions and to help expedite benefit administration processes for HR administrators.  PlanSource offers a pre-established integration for Voya Employee Benefits products allowing for easy setup and support. The administrative efficiencies gained by working with Voya Employee Benefits enables PlanSource to typically reduce the cost of software fees, making the PlanSource system even more affordable.

The PlanSource Advantage Program also allows employers to mix and match different programs offered through different PlanSource carrier partners. In other words, by using one or more of the PlanSource Advantage partners, brokers and employers can offer premium product lines while making the PlanSource platform even more affordable.