Protect your employees’ families – and their satisfaction – with the Aflac Plus Rider

When your employees fall sick, the last thing they should be worrying about is how they’re going to pay for care. For an affordable cost, the Aflac Plus Rider can help save them that worry – and can help drive their loyalty to you for making this coverage available. That loyalty matters to your bottom line, particularly during a pandemic that has seemed to rattle the entire workforce.

What is the Aflac Plus Rider?

It’s cash paid to policyholders to help cover out-of-pocket expenses for covered health events, as well as health events such as heart attack, stroke and type 1 diabetes. It’s not a policy on its own; it’s an addition to enhance a number of Aflac insurance policies, including hospital indemnity insurance, accident insurance, disability insurance and cancer coverage, depending on where you live. Your Aflac agent can tell you which policies can have the rider attached.

How does the Aflac Plus Rider work?

Let’s say one of your employees has an accident that results in a permanent loss of hearing. Parts of the treatment would be paid for by health insurance. If the employee has Aflac’s accident policy, that policy would provide direct payment, unless otherwise assigned to help with expenses.

That’s a start. But there are a lot of unexpected expenses that even health insurance and accident coverage may not cover. Your employee may need to purchase assistive technology that would improve her equality of life. She may need time away from work to figure out how to meet her day-to-day needs, and may require a gradual return to work as she adapts to her new condition. Meanwhile, she’d still need to figure out how to pay for things like utility bills, car payments, mortgage payments, kids’ birthday presents and other out-of-pocket expenses.

That’s where Aflac Plus Rider steps in to help: It offers your employees $5,000¹ for a covered critical health event to help with the rest of their expenses, without them having to fill out claims for every expense. The money is your employees’ to do with as they wish.

Now, let’s say the employee was then diagnosed with another covered condition, such as advanced Parkinson’s disease. The second critical illness event benefit works the same way, with a $2,500 payment.¹

Does the Aflac Plus Rider offer benefits for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases?

Yes, starting in the first quarter of 2021. Employees who need to be hospitalized as a result of being diagnosed with human coronavirus, to include COVID-19, along with bird flu/H5N1, influenza, pneumonia or Ebola can receive $1,250 to $5,000, depending on the length of hospital confinement required.¹

Other needs surrounding the coronavirus have benefits available with other Aflac plans. Antibody testing and vaccinations fall under Aflac’s wellness benefits, and policyholders who are unable to work because of a positive diagnosis are paid benefits under short-term disability policies.¹.

Easy for you, crucial for your workforce

Nearly 60% of employees have missed a paycheck because of a serious health event or accident in 2020²; nearly 70% needed to take a leave of absence.² That piles up in ways that health insurance doesn’t necessarily cover: 28% of employees say they’ve had to delay medical care so they could afford their daily living expenses,² and 13% say high medical costs have negatively affected their credit scores.² It’s taking a toll on their mental health, with 61% of adults saying that money is a significant source of stress.³ That in turn takes a toll on your bottom line, as 46% of employees with poor financial health report lower productivity.⁴

When you include Aflac Plus Rider as an option for your employees, you’re helping them create a budget before they need it. And it can be at no cost to you – the Aflac Plus Rider cost can come entirely out of employees’ paychecks, at an affordable price.

You can help give your employees peace of mind in a way that doesn’t add much to your benefits cost. To learn more about Aflac Plus Rider, contact your Aflac benefits advisor or visit Aflac.com/business.