With today’s ever-complex healthcare environment, employers continue to look for ways to extend health coverage to their employees in a cost-efficient manner. One of the newer alternatives that have gained traction in recent years is the Minimum Essential Coverage or MEC plans. The main aim of this article is to help to learn what MEC plans are, their advantages and why an organization may benefit from them.
What is a MEC Plan?
Minimum Essential Coverage Plan also referred to as MEC plan is a specific type of health insurance designed to cover essential minimum health coverage in line with the requirements of Affordable Care Act (ACA). These plans aim to keep costs reasonable for employers and staff while offering basic preventive care services.
MEC plans usually provide coverage for the following sorts of preventive services:
– Annual check-ups
– Immunizations
– Screening for certain health conditions
– Prenatal care
It should be emphasized that because MEC plans comply with the ACA individual mandate requirement, they do so without covering the range of medical services that more comprehensive plans do or provide coverage for.
MEC plans provide several advantages particularly for employers in industries with high labor turnover or those who hire part-time employees.
Employers can benefit for these features
Economical: The basic plan premiums are relatively lower than those of normal health insurance thus more affordable for the employers to provide them.
ACA compliance: Offering a MEC plan enables employers to escape any fines associated with not providing health coverage to their employees.
Flexibility: These plans can be designed to fit the requirements of specific employee segments in an organization.
Benefits for Employees
Although the scope and range of coverage of MEC plans is not as far reaching as other health care insurance plans, they do offer some significant benefits to the employees:
Preventive care: Employees can receive key preventive services at no cost-sharing to them.
Cost Effectiveness: Reduced premiums make it possible for employees to have some degree of health coverage at a more reasonable cost.
Compliance with individual mandate: MEC plans satisfy the ACA’s individual
mandate, helping employees avoid tax penalties.
Vitable Health’s Position to MEC Plans
Vitable Health believes in marketing more advanced MEC plans than simply providing the basic coverage. They provide affordable MEC plans and augment them with supplementary services that complement basic employee health plans.
The following are some of the distinguishing aspects of MEC plans provided by Vitable Health:
– Virtual primary care
– Mental health
– Most used prescription medications
Vitable Health’s MEC plans have an impressive offering as they do add on to the benefits already constructed by other companies without making it too difficult for the employers or employees’ pockets.
Should our organization adopt a MEC Plan?
Deciding on whether to adopt a MEC plan for your workforce begins with understanding the needs of your organization and those of your employees. For some businesses, MEC plans would be a great fit, and for others, it can be effective but not advisable.
Some examples of these include:
– The age and general work characteristics of your employees
– How much you can afford to allocate to employee healthcare needs
– The usability of coverage on the part of the employees and how often it is relied upon.
Working together with a healthcare benefits company such as Vitable Health would be beneficial in identifying some prominent features to support the view that what is the best and most effective MEC plan in terms of fit for the organization is in fact that.
Conclusion
The MEC plans provide basic health coverage to employers as they can limit the costs associated with such coverage. Providing a brief analysis of the advantages as well as the shortcomings of the plans, helps one resonate the strategy towards providing employee health benefits in an organization in an informed manner. The number of options available for employers looking to enhance their employees’ welfare in association with different health providers is increasing through newer providers like Vitable Health offering enhanced MEC plans.