Additional health insurance coverage for employees on company business

[French]

Is it possible to purchase some type of plan/policy which provides just additional medical coverage for employees who are traveling

in the US on company business. We recently reduced our coinsurance percentage and increased the deductible and out-of-pocket

maximums in our self-insured medical plan. As a result, concerns have been raised by some employees of the increased financial

liability when traveling.

Comments/thoughts/suggestions?

[KIP KRAUS]

If you have a medical plan with deductibles and co-pays I don’t see the increase in financial liability while traveling for the company unless the employee travels to an area where medical costs are higher than at home. This of course assumes that the employee has a need for medical treatment while traveling for the company.

What if they’re on vacation and something happens to them?

Finally, outside of a travel accident policy I’ve never heard of a company increasing medical coverage for employees traveling on company business, but I haven’t seen it all.

I don’t see this as a legitimate concern.

[Ron Snyder]

The employer certainly could provide travel accident insurance. Otherwise, what additional liability is there? While it may be true that people who travel more are sicker, I have never seen studies that show it. So the only quantifiable "risk" you are referring to is the fact that the co-pay may be higher if I travel away from the network? But the policy should address this, and they generally provide that if there is not a network handy, the plan will work like traditional health insurance rather than like a PPO, HMO or POS plan. (Of course this only applies within the US. Travel outside the US is generally excluded, but can be purchased for short-term coverage.)

[GBurns]

The only increased financial liability that I can foresee is the possible increased out-of-pocket expenses that would be incurred by having to go out-of-network for services. This could easily be handled by a special separate section 105 MERP set up for those employees who travel. The employer simply picks up the eligible extra out-of-pocket expenses if incurred. This should be far less expensive that any additional insurance coverage even if available. If there is a fear that the employees might not have the money to pay and then wait for reimbursement, then some arrangement could be set up with a debit or credit card or there is always Western Union and wire transfers.

[French]

First of all thanks for the comments.

As GBurns has stated, there are a few employees concerned with increases in their out-of-pocket expenses due to out-of-network

services. Though I may not agree with their concerns since I believe we still have reasonable out-of-pocket maximums ($1500/

$3000 out-of-network), we agreed to at least look into this matter. Due to the type of work performed by our employees for

specific clients, we work hard to keep our employees happy. We recently heard about a program through CIGNA and I will also

check into GBurns' suggestion about a MERP, though I could certainly use more guidance in this area.

Other suggestions/thoughts remain welcome.

[mroberts]

Most health plans will cover emergency services as if they were in-network benefits if the employee goes to an out-of-network hospital. If employees are utilizing out-of-network doctors for routine visits, then obviously take a hard look at the network of your current health plan to ensure it's adequate, although I don't think this is the case since employees are concerned when traveling.