Accident insurance helps families offset the expense of injuries requiring treatment that they might normally have to cover out-of-pocket to meet their plans' deductible. In simple terms, it pays employees directly for common injuries and associated medical treatments and services. Driven by consumer insights, Guardian's accident insurance now features:
- Injury-Free Benefit™ pays the employee a cash benefit if their family is claim-free for five years. Guardian will pay the benefit even if there are wellness and/or concussion baseline study claims filed during this period.
- Rainy Day Fund pays up to $500 annually to cover costs that are insurable by an individual policy but are not covered by the policy due to limitations, like frequency of follow-up visits or physical therapy sessions, over a defined period of time. For any amount unused over the course of the year, up to half of the original fund will be carried over to the next year, up to a limit of $1,000 (see example below).
"We asked consumers what they wanted most in an accident product to better understand what they would value and appreciate. Our latest enhancements provide maximum coverage to give them what they want - a return on their investment," said Mike Estep, Vice President, Group Products & Worksite Leader, Guardian. "Offering Guardian Accident Insurance can help employers strengthen the financial security of their workforce and help employees manage high healthcare deductibles."
Accidents happen, this product can help
Employers can offer this employee-paid insurance coverage to enhance their overall employee benefits package and help boost employees' financial protection. As an example of how Guardian's new Rainy Day Fund feature helps with the unexpected, consider the following scenario: Joe is out bowling with his family when he drops a bowling ball on his foot and fractures three toes.
Joe was paying $39 a month for Guardian's Accident Plan (Platinum) covering his family
- On Joe's Accident Plan, fracture benefit is
limited to two fractures per accident
|
- Guardian pays $320 for each of the first
two fractured toes (Total $640)
|
- Joe's third fractured toe is not covered
under the Accident plan
|
- Joe taps into his Rainy Day Fund cash
benefit (up to $500 per year) to pay for
his third fractured toe, providing him an
additional $320 benefit
|
- Joe has a remaining balance of $180 in his
Rainy Day Fund
|
- Joe and his family stay injury free for the
remainder of the year. As a result,
Guardian automatically rolls over the
$180 balance to the following year. Joe
now has $680 in his Rainy Day Fund.
|
Additional key features of Guardian's Accident insurance:
- New Auto-Increase Benefit: Provides an automatic five percent increase in benefit each year for every policy for a maximum of five years with no increase to an employee's premium.
- Greater Plan Design Flexibility: Guardian now offers four standard accident insurance plans with a wide range of coverage options.
- More Covered Features: Includes post-traumatic stress disorder due to a covered injury, traumatic brain injury, gunshot wound, and outpatient therapies such as vocational, speech, respiratory or cognitive behavioral therapy.
Unexpected injuries can impact a family's financial wellbeing and lead to increased stress. According to Guardian's 6th Annual Workplace Benefits Study, 44% of working Americans in HDHPs say they have avoided receiving medical care in the past year because of their high deductibles. For the first time, employers can offer their employees accident insurance that can pay them back while backing them up.
Guardian's enhanced accident product is now available for quoting in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Virginia, and Vermont.
To learn more about Guardian's Accident coverage, please click here.
About Guardian®
Every day, Guardian provides Americans the security they deserve through our insurance and wealth management products and services. Since our founding in 1860, our long-term view has helped our customers prepare for whatever life brings whether starting a family, planning for the future or taking care of employees. Today, we're a Fortune 250 mutual company and a leading provider of life, disability, dental, and other benefits for individuals, at the workplace and through government sponsored programs. The Guardian community of 9,500 employees and our network of over 2,700 financial representatives is committed to serving with expertise when, where and how our clients need us. Our commitments rest on a strong financial foundation, which at year-end 2018 included $8.5 billion in capital and $1.6 billion in operating income. For more information, please visit guardianlife.com or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.
For Media Inquiries, Contact:
Brenda Mendoza Messinger
Guardian
(212) 919-3521
[email protected]
The Rainy Day Fund does not apply to benefits without frequency limitations, or Wellness claims. Covered benefits include: air ambulance, ambulance, blood/plasma/platelets, chiropractic visits, diagnostic exam (major), doctor follow-up visits, emergency dental work, epidural anesthesia pain management, eye injury, family care, fractures, gunshot wound, hospital confinement, hospital ICU confinement, joint replacement, knee cartilage, lodging, outpatient therapies, rehabilitation unit confinement, ruptured disc with surgical repair, surgery (cranial, open abdominal, thoracic, hernia), surgery (exploratory and arthroscopic), transportation, and x-ray. Automatic Increase Option: Covered person must be insured under the certificate for 12 consecutive months before the first adjustment is applied. Does not apply to disability, hospital confinement due to sickness, and wellness benefit. Guardian's Accident Insurance is underwritten and issued by The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, New York, NY. Products are not available in all states. Policy limitations and exclusions apply. Optional riders and/or features may incur additional costs. Plan documents are the final arbiter of coverage. This policy provides Accident insurance only. It does not provide basic hospital, basic medical or major medical insurance as defined by the New York State Department of Financial Services. IMPORTANT NOTICE –THIS POLICY DOES NOT PROVIDE COVERAGE FOR SICKNESS. 2019-80511 (6/21)
1 Henry Kaiser Family Foundation, Health Costs, 2019
2 Bankrate Money Pulse Survey, Jan. 5-8, 2017
3 Guardian; How to cope with health care uncertainty, 2019
SOURCE The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
Related Links
www.guardianlife.com
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