Life insurance offered by an employer or large-scale entity (i.e. association or labor organization) to its workers or members. Group life insurance is typically offered as a piece of a larger employer or membership benefit package.
By purchasing coverage through a provider on a “wholesale” basis for its members, the coverage costs each individual worker/member much less than if they had to purchase an individual policy. Those receiving coverage may not have to pay anything “out of pocket” for policy benefits or they may elect to have their portion of the premium payment deducted from their paycheck.
Group disability insurance is a single disability policy that covers many people. The insured group has a common interest or association., such as an employer, a trade or school affiliation. All eligible individuals may be covered by the policy , and the cost of group coverage is often less expensive than the cost of individual coverage. The plan may be contributory (you must sign up for coverage and contribute toward the premium payments) or noncontributory (funded by the employer or association, and you are automatically covered if you meet eligibility requirements).
Group health insurance coverage is a policy that is purchased by an employer and is offered to eligible employees of the company (and often to the employees’ family members) as a benefit of working for that company. A group health insurance plan is a key component of many employee benefits packages that employers provide for employees.
The Affordable Care Act requires that insured small group plans offer health plans that meet certain benchmarks. The benchmarks are represented by the metal levels of platinum, gold, silver and bronze. Each metal level tier plan is designed to provide the same average level of benefit to an enrollee.
The tiers are based on the percentage the plan pays of the average overall cost of providing essential health benefits to members:
- Platinum plansare the most generous and more expensive. These are designed to pay as much as 90% of medical expenses
- Gold plansare designed to pay 80% of medical expenses
- Silver plansare expected to pay 70% of medical expenses
- Bronze plans are expected to pay 60% of medical expenses
A buy and sell agreement is an approach used by sole proprietorships, partnerships and closed corporations to divide the business share or interest of a proprietor, partner, or shareholder. The owner of the business interest being considered has to be disabled, deceased, retired or expressed interest in selling. The buy and sell agreement requires that the business share is sold according to a predetermined formula to the company or the remaining members of the business. Before the interest of a deceased partner can be sold to the company or remaining partners, the deceased’s estate must agree to sell.
A life insurance policy that a company purchases on a key executive’s life. The company is the beneficiary of the plan and pays the insurance policy premiums.
A defined-benefit plan is a retirement plan that an employer sponsors, where employee benefits are computed using a formula that considers factors, such as length of employment and salary history. The company administers portfolio management and investment risk for the plan. There are also restrictions on when and by what method an employee can withdraw funds without penalties.
A portion of an employee’s compensation that is set aside to be paid at a later date. In most cases, taxes on this income are deferred until it is paid out. Forms of deferred compensation include retirement plans, pension plans and stock-option plans.