Workplace Benefits

Most jobs offer employees insurance benefits. The benefits offered depend on the job. Here are a few examples of some workplace benefits:

• Long Term Care Insurance

This insurance is for extended care of a person who needs long-term health care. It may mean a couple of months, a few years, or a lifetime. In most cases, the people who use this type of insurance need help with basic daily living. They may be unable to dress, eat, walk or bathe on their own. This type of insurance also helps the family pay for expenses associated with home health aides or visiting nurses. Hospice and assisted living programs fall in this category.

• Disability Insurance

Disability insurance helps workers avoid financial loss when they are unable to work. This insurance covers on-the-job accidents that cause an injury that keeps a person from performing their job. This type of plan may also cover sick leave, mental disabilities, and short and long-term absences due to injury. Some businesses are required to offer disability insurance.

Workers who work in construction, for example, are often hurt on the job. Most construction companies are required by law to offer disability coverage. Self-employed individuals can purchase disability insurance too. The main types of coverage are individual disability insurance, which can be purchased by anyone, national social insurance programs that are administered by the state, and employer-provided worker’s compensation.

• Accident Insurance

Accident insurance protects against bodily injury or death from an accident. Any loss from an accident is covered. This includes car accidents, a trip and a fall, death, or heavy equipment accidents.

Anyone can purchase accident insurance, but people in high-risk jobs and elderly people are encouraged to purchase this type of insurance. Some employers offer Group Life Supplement insurance. It provides collective coverage for a large number of people, but personal insurance is available to add extra protection for each individual.

Some people purchase travel insurance as well. This insurance covers mishaps that occur during travel.

• Critical Illness Insurance

Critical illness insurance assists those who experience a critical illness that is covered by the policy. The policy provides a lump sum payment, depending on the specifics of the policy. The payout might go to the sick person or to their beneficiaries in the event of death.

This type of insurance is helpful if a person has a family history of a certain disease. For example, common covered illnesses are Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Many people have a history of these diseases in their family. Dismemberment or a loss of a limb and terminal illnesses are also covered by this kind of insurance.

• Cancer Insurance

Cancer is the most common, and one of most fatal, illnesses in the United States. A cancer insurance policy protects the sick person from losses associated with diagnosis and treatment. A person who works in an area exposed to high radioactivity, for example, might want this coverage. If you have a family history of cancer, then you might want to consider this coverage.

It is important to purchases insurance before you become sick. Research the insurance when you are well. Do not wait until it is already too late.