Outpatient care plans for employees have gained popularity in Belgium in recent years. In 10 years’ time the number of employers offering an outpatient or dental care plan has doubled. More and more employers are recognizing the importance of an outpatient care plan for their employees in order to distinguish themselves on the labour market.
Because an outpatient or dental care plan constitutes a tangible benefit for employees, it is also a distinctive way to position yourself as a caring employer. In addition, you obviously have every interest in ensuring that your employees stay healthy through more accessible and affordable health care.
Hospitalisation insurance has been widespread for many years. However, due to health policy developments an increasing number of medical costs are not covered by hospitalisation insurance since more and more often medical treatments, procedures and examinations are no longer carried out in hospital but on an outpatient basis. Besides, in recent years ever more attention is being paid to preventive care and well-being: employees are increasingly aware of the importance of a healthy lifestyle and are more likely to call upon doctors and experts for help. Expensive dental care such as orthodontics and dental prostheses, with costs mainly borne by the patient, only increases the importance of outpatient care insurance.
Did you know that more than two thirds of the medical costs borne by patients are outpatient costs? And that an outpatient costs insurance is being used ten times more often than a hospitalisation insurance, making this a much more tangible benefit for your employees? Further details can be found in this blog. With a handy app, submitting medical costs moreover becomes child’s play.
And the cost? This depends on the guarantees and the coverage limit. You can either take out a full outpatient care plan for your employees or a dental care plan only. You can determine the maximum amount and percentage of the outpatient care costs to be reimbursed per year. The sectoral salary margin of 0.4% may eventually be used to implement such a plan. Your account manager can draw up various options for a customised plan.
An outpatient or dental care plan provides a clear added value to your employees. They receive, as it were, a ‘cash’ benefit that they can use on a daily basis. But obviously an outpatient care plan has to be experienced as such by the employees themselves or it will fail to achieve its objective.
To avoid that this additional salary benefit proves to be nothing more than an empty shell, an objective comparison of the different outpatient care plans on the market is essential. After all, premium and benefits are determined by various elements, such as the selected guarantees and possible exclusions, the annual reimbursement limits, the reimbursement percentages, waiting periods, etc. A detailed comparison gives you the opportunity to examine which outpatient guarantees best suit your HR policy and budget, and whether you would opt for a full outpatient care plan or a dental care plan.
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Increasing numbers of people on long-term sick leave and persistent labour market shortages have put the subject of incapacity for work high on the agenda. During a recent symposium, Lode Godderis, Professor of Occupational Medicine at KU Leuven and CEO of IDEWE, shared his insights into this complex challenge. He put this fundamental question to those present: are we addressing this growing problem the right way?
More than 500,000 Belgians are on long-term sick leave – and the number continues to grow by 5.5% every year. The impact on our social security system and on employers is significant. But there’s good news: the federal coalition agreement for 2025-2029 includes a definite commitment to change this. With a strong focus on prevention, faster reintegration and shared responsibility, government policy is shifting from a reactive to a proactive approach.
As an employer with activities in multiple countries, you want your employees to enjoy the same quality of healthcare and insurance wherever they are in the world. The challenge lies in managing employee benefits packages efficiently in a way that’s both compliant with local legislation and consistent with your global HR strategy. So how can you turn your international approach into an asset in the war for talent? And how can Vanbreda Risk & Benefits help you to do so?
Any further questions about the implementation of an outpatient care plan? Please contact your Account Manager Employee Benefits or Consultant Health Care at Vanbreda Risk & Benefits. They will be happy to provide further advice and guidance.