Employee Benefits Methodology

Maddock & Associates offers benefits consulting in Tacoma, WA and in cities throughout western Washington. We pull all of the pieces of your employee benefits together to offer a complete, smooth running employee benefit package. Following is an explanation of the Maddock & Associates employee benefits methodology including an overview of our value added services.

Needs Analysis

Before we do anything, we work with you, the employer, to take a look at what has happened in the previous years and what changes, if any, should be made to the employee benefits package. During the needs analysis, we look at the following issues:

  • Are the employees happy with their benefits?
  • Has anything changed in the company or to your industry to warrant a change in the benefits?
  • What level of benefits is needed to attract employees in your industry?
  • How is your company doing financially?
  • Is there a need to modify the benefits to meet an individual employee’s catastrophic needs?

Market Analysis

Based on what we have learned about your needs, and any changes that have occurred in your industry. We utilize our expertise in the employee benefits industry to put together an RFP to obtain quotes for plans that will meet your needs. As part of our market analysis we:

  • Look at ways to fine tune your existing plan to reduce costs and ensure you get the most for your benefit dollar
  • Obtain quotes from all applicable fully funded insurance companies and appropriate insurance associations
  • Look at partially self-funded and fully self-funded arrangements to ensure that you are getting the best for your money and that your fixed costs are in-line with the industry average
  • Evaluate alternative benefit funding strategies and tax saving vehicles for your employees including: Health Savings Accounts (HSA), Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA), and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA / Cafeteria Plan)
  • Get quotes and proposals for all employee benefit products and services that are applicable and of value to your company
  • Present all of your employee benefit options in a clear and concise manner, focusing on what is important to you

Plan Set-Up and Employee Enrollment

Once you decide on the insurance companies you would like to work with, we will work with you and the insurance companies to customize the plans so that they meet your specific needs. We will tie all of your employee benefits together and present them to your employees as a simple, complete package. As part of the enrollment, we:

  • Create benefit summaries for all of your employees that briefly and simply explain the benefits
  • Set up a custom website at www.yourmedicalbenefits.com for groups of 20 employees or more. The website ties all of the different employee benefits together, so that the employees and their dependants have
    24-hour access to all employee benefit information, forms, provider directories, FAQ’s, and links to provider websites.
  • Perform group and/or one-on-one employee benefit meetings to explain the benefits, answer questions about the plans, and enroll employees.

On-Going Benefits Support

Once your plan is set-up and your employees are enrolled, our service continues. Throughout the year we are here to help insure that your plan runs as smoothly as possible. Following are ways we will help you manage your benefits:

  • We will handle your employees benefit questions, claims issues, and enrollment questions. We will give your employees our 800 number and take care of their benefit needs.
  • We will take care of all your COBRA duties for free though some insurance trusts or for a small $20 fee per termination. Alternatively, we can give you software, at no charge, that will: give you all the documentation to easily pass a COBRA Audit, calculate COBRA rates, and remind you to print and mail COBRA election notices before critical deadlines.
  • As new employees come onto the plan, we will be there to explain their benefits and assist them with the enrollment process
  • Continually monitor and communicate claims data for self-funded and experience rated groups

On-Going Benefits Analysis

At Maddock & Associates, we will analyze the market and present new plan types to you on an on-going basis. When necessary, we will work with you and the insurance companies to make plan modifications to keep your employees happy and insure that your benefits are in line with the organizational objectives and the demands of the labor market place. As changes are made, we will put together new plan summaries and have meetings to help communicate the changes to your employees. As always, the website, www.yourmedicalbenefits.com, will be updated with the most current information for all of your employees to view, no matter where they are.