Being an employer, you strive to ensure that your employees are healthy and happy. Unfortunately, they sometimes encounter mental problems. At such times easily accessible care is of crucial importance to them. Fortunately, today’s insurers are no longer merely covering the cost of medical care or providing medical assistance. They are increasingly focusing on the mental wellbeing of your employees and offer a range of additional services to this end.
Healthcare providers have been working with an online platform and app for some time. This makes it easy for insured persons to report a hospitalisation, submit medical costs, activate the third-party payment system for the hospital, request a refund for pharmacy expenses via AssurPharma, etc.
We have noticed that many insurers have recently extended their services, creating a genuine healthcare platform. This enables employees to call on general practitioners and psychologists more quickly. Long waiting lists for physical appointments with a doctor or psychologist are being replaced by instant consultations via a digital platform.
Using the app, your employees can gain access to digital care services anywhere and at any time. For example, initial support when their general practitioner cannot be contacted or a consultation with a doctor (by video call) or psychologist (by telephone, video call or sometimes even face-to-face).
Insurers are also increasingly providing supplementary wellbeing related services, including digital articles, webinars, an online burn-out assessment tool or a mindfulness programme. Sometimes individual support can be provided via an ‘employee assistance program’, with an emphasis on psychological support and tools to improve your mental wellbeing.
Thanks to these ongoing developments a range of supplementary services is being provided to promote the wellbeing of your employees and their family members. Are they covered by a collective healthcare insurance? If so and depending on their hospitalisation and/or outpatient care insurer, they can now take care of their physical and mental health in a straightforward manner, in comfort and in privacy, thanks to the various paying or non-paying tools provided to them. These additional services are sometimes also offered in combination with a collective invalidity insurance.
The healthcare services that are provided are thus not merely significantly extended but also taken to a higher level. By making healthcare services more easily accessible and by lowering the threshold, insurers are keen to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of your employees. As a caring employer, the fact that you can pay even more attention to mental wellbeing and preventive care in this way represents a major asset.
Do you have further questions about the wellbeing services offered today by your insurer? If so, please contact your Account Manager Employee Benefits at Vanbreda Risk & Benefits.
The minimum guaranteed return on supplementary pensions has been 1.75% since 2016. On 1 January 2025, following this long period at a constant level, the statutory guaranteed return will rise to 2.50%. What impact does this increase have on your company’s pension schemes?
By means of global benefits management, your organisation can easily run a strong employee benefits package worldwide. This structured, central approach provides a useful overview of all benefits and enables you to put together an attractive package in the war for talent. If social security is non-existent or too limited in one of the countries where you’re based, you can also provide your employees there with additional support through this insurance package. Employee benefits expert Kristof Baertsoen talks about the advantages of global benefits management in the latest episode of our video podcast Succes Verzekerd.
From 1 November 2024, hospitalisation insurance will cover the costs of a suicide attempt. The law of 21 April 2024 has amended existing health cost insurance legislation to this end.
Since 2019, local authorities have been encouraged to introduce or develop a supplementary pension scheme for the benefit of their contractual staff. If – among other requirements – this supplementary pension scheme is large enough, meaning in practice a contribution of at least 3% to a defined contribution scheme, the local authority is eligible for a discount of up to 50% on the additional annual shortfall contribution. This discount is adjusted by the latest pension reform to maintain the financial robustness of the Common Pension Fund.