I know many in my industry will tell you how important insurance is and we should all be insured to the hilt. But are you ready for an earth shattering truth? They are wrong.
Insurance does play a vital role in our lives, but so do many other things like eating, sleeping, breathing, etc. It is near impossible to cover every risk imaginable, and many do not have the funds necessary to do so either. It’s a reality that life comes with risk. Sometimes we roll the dice and win, sometimes we roll the dice and lose. It’s an unfortunate fact of life but one that we all recover from in one way or another.
So the question should not be “Have I covered all the risk?” but instead “What are you truly worried about?”
With employee benefits, there are some basics that I believe in. For instance, Disability Insurance is a must. Why? Because if you are ever unable to work and still want to have food on the table, disability insurance allows you to do that. So hence the idea—disability insurance is a must just like eating is a must.
A quick aside, I have a daughter that suffers from asthma. My wife and I always worried about taking her to BC Children’s (the most amazing hospital in the world) and “wasting” the doctors time if she wasn’t “bad enough” to be admitted. We had one amazing doctor that was able to put it in perspective for us. He said “always bring her in if you are worried about her because breathing is essential to life” Of course it is……it seems so obvious now.
The same is true about our ability to buy food: eating is essential to life, so protect yourself so you can always eat! If you can’t work, you can’t afford your most basic bills, including grocery bills.
Unfortunately, it is far too common for employees to value health and dental more than LTD. Although I may not agree with their stance, it is their own choice to place value on it. Employee benefits serve a key purpose in recruitment and retention for many employers. If you as an employer choose to fully insure all of the possible health and dental coverages, especially as a small business, you will be extremely well protected. However, you will face an extremely large invoice as a result. That may work for some of the companies some of the time…but it won’t work for ALL OF THE COMPANIES.
There are solutions out there that work extremely well without having to insure everything. You can insure the parts of your plan that are most important to you and budget for the others. Don’t get me wrong, if you want to insure everything, I’d love to sell you benefits! But if you want to chat about what is right for your company and your situation I’d love to have a conversation with you. We can help you through the decision-making process and customize a plan that is the right choice for you.
Bri
an joined The Employee Benefits Division of Dupuis Langen Financial Management (1985) Ltd. in April 2017. He has specialized in employee benefits for 19 years and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the team. His history in self-funded plans, his analytical mind and his dedication to superior customer service make him a great addition. Contact Brian to customize an innovative and sustainable employee benefits program for your company
