One of the best ways to keep employees happy and attract new talent to your business is by offering comprehensive insurance plans or group insurance. Group benefits are a popular choice for businesses, but understanding group insurance nuances can be confusing. To help you better comprehend group benefits and determine whether it is the right step for your business, consider these answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the subject.

What Are Group Life Insurance Benefits?

Group life insurance benefits typically include accidental death and dismemberment insurance, critical illness insurance, dependent life insurance, and employee basic life insurance.

Either employees or an employer can pay the premiums for group life insurance. The purpose of the group life benefits is to cover the financial loss resulting from a person’s death. The insurer will pay a stated amount, either based on earnings or a flat amount, to the insured person’s beneficiaries or their estate.

What Are Group Health Benefits?

Group health benefits are a type of welfare maintained by an employer to cover employees’ medical expenses not covered by provincial health plans. They can include a health care spending account and extended health care benefits.

Government health care plans cover all Canadians, but they don’t include services like prescription drugs for home use, vision care, dental care, and medical equipment and supplies. Extended health care benefits cover various services, such as:

• Prescriptions
• Ambulatory services
• Paramedical services
• Medical supplies and equipment
• Hospital coverage
• Vision care

Wikipedia defines a health care spending account as a flexible supplemental program that covers expenses that don’t fall under provincial or employer plans. It can take care of health, dental, and vision services for you, your spouse, and your dependents.

Are Group Insurance Benefits Taxable or Tax Deductible in Canada?

Health and dental group insurance benefits are not taxable in Canada. Employees can receive payment or reimbursement tax-free.

Though group benefits are not taxable, employers cannot give their workers money and claim it as insurance. For the tax exemption to be legal, there must be a formal government agreement called a Private Health Services Plan.

Public health insurance plans are technically tax-free, but they are government-sponsored programs funded by residents’ taxes. It is worth noting that some medical services require out-of-pocket payment, which may be tax-deductible.

How Many Employees Do You Need for Group Health Insurance?

The number of employees you need to get group health insurance varies depending on the business’s size. Companies with up to 50 employees qualify for small health insurance plans, and large health insurance plans cover those with more than 50 workers.

Though it is possible to acquire a small health insurance plan by having one employee, the worker must not be related to the employer to qualify for benefits.

What Is Group Wage Loss Insurance Benefits?

Wage loss insurance, formerly known as workers’ compensation, is similar to short-term disability insurance. It’s a no-fault system that temporarily supplements the income of workers who sustain an injury on the job. The injured insured can use the payments to cover medical benefits.

Understanding group benefits can be challenging, but our team at Group Enroll is here to assist you. As partners with most of the nation’s leading insurance providers, we will find affordable group life insurance on your behalf. We also offer extended health care coverage to take care of medication, medical supplies, and equipment that do not fall under other employment or provincial plans.

Get started today by using our online form to receive quotes from leading insurance suppliers. For additional questions about your plan, you can contact our knowledgeable representatives by email at [email protected] or by mail at 10 Great Gulf Drive, Unit 5, Vaughan, ON, L4K 0K7.