WA Cares Fund & Voluntary Benefits Enrollment Solutions

WA Cares Fund - Long Term Care Benefit and Payroll Tax

While likely already on your radar, I wanted to ensure you were aware of this new WA payroll tax and that you’re getting all the support you need around this. The WA LTC Cares program begins in January 2022 and mandates an uncapped .58% payroll tax on WA state employees to provide a modest Long Term Care benefit.

Aon is helping clients navigate this new program and providing guidance on employee communication and group options that give employees access to guaranteed issue Long Term Care insurance, which would qualify them to opt-out of the program and tax. Please let me know if you’d be interested in meeting with our expert in this space.

Voluntary Benefits & Enrollment Solutions

I want to make you aware of a unique Aon solution that I believe could be highly impactful and drive huge value for Aon Clients and your talent strategy. This solution would come at no cost to Aon Clients and will actually drive substantial savings in various ways.

Given the pandemic and the new virtual environment, we know employees are paying extra attention to their benefit coverages and benefit spend, and need more help than ever with benefit education and enrollment support. Aon was able to create new ways to engage with and educate the remote workforce, while taking the heavy lifting off the HR team’s plate. The feedback clients shared about how impactful our support was incredible and that’s why I’d like the opportunity to discuss with your HR/Benefits team how we can deliver additional support to your team and help positively impact your talent strategy.

Aon has an in-house solution that delivers enrollment support and benefit education to meet these needs. Resources include:

• Licensed and certified benefit counselors (Aon non-commissioned employees) deployed via a dedicated call center
• Virtual group meetings
• 1:1 virtual employee meetings 
• A suite of company-branded communications created by a dedicated communications consultant at Aon
• Dedicated account manager to execute on all of the above

With this solution, Aon truly becomes an extension of your HR/Benefits team in supporting your employees.

The price for these services typically ranges from $40 - $75 per benefit eligible employee, depending on the scope of the project. But the more interesting route for you is our alternate funding model that involves Aon reinvesting voluntary benefit commissions to make the project cost-neutral for your business. These voluntary benefits include plans such as Hospital Indemnity, Identity Theft Protection and Group Legal - adding highly relevant coverage and choice to your benefit portfolio. Clients typically receive bundling discounts on company-paid benefits when adding these voluntary benefits, and reduce cost and time spent on benefits communications, benefits technology and enrollment support.  

Please let me know if you’d be open to having a call to learn more. This solution could be standalone with Aon and would not disrupt your current broker/consultant relationship, but would allow us to provide significant value to your team, your employees and your budget.