Employee benefits for Wisconsin employers
Build a benefits offer your business can fund and your employees can use. A first-time offer starts with a budget. A renewal starts with what changed for the business and for the people on payroll.
Offering benefits for the first time
- Set a monthly budget. Decide what the business can contribute per enrolled employee and whether it will contribute toward dependent coverage.
- Map the workforce. Count employees by work location and employment status. Ask the carrier to confirm eligibility and participation requirements for your group.
- Build the offer. Compare medical coverage first. Price dental, vision, life or disability benefits separately so you can see what each adds to the budget.
Reviewing a renewal
Put the current plan, its renewal and one alternative side by side. Compare these four items before you decide whether a change is worthwhile.
- Employer cost: Monthly contribution multiplied by expected enrollment, including dependent tiers.
- Employee paycheck: What an employee pays each pay period for employee-only and family coverage.
- Access to care: Which clinics, hospitals and pharmacies employees use across your locations.
- Cost when care is needed: Changes to deductibles, office visits and common prescription costs.
What employees will need from you
Give employees a short enrollment guide with their payroll deduction, the plan summary, the deadline to elect or waive coverage, the effective date, and a contact for questions. Include a direct link to the specific plan’s provider directory.
Group health insurance FAQs for Wisconsin employers
Start with your employee count, work locations, target start date and approximate monthly budget. If you already offer coverage, have your renewal and current rate sheet handy. Call the Medford office at (715) 678-2525 or the Park Falls office at (715) 762-4838 to discuss what a carrier will need for a quote.
Tell the agent how many people work for you, who would be offered coverage and how many expect to enroll or waive it. Ask the carrier to confirm its eligibility and participation rules for your group. If you work for yourself and are buying coverage just for your household, start with individual and family health insurance.
Start with the monthly premium for each coverage tier and subtract the employer contribution. For example, if employee-only coverage costs $600 a month and the business contributes $400, the employee share is $200 a month, or $100 per paycheck on a twice-monthly payroll. Ask for separate figures for family coverage and use your actual pay schedule.
Ask for three columns showing your current plan, the renewal and one alternative. Use the same enrollment and employer contribution in each. Compare the monthly business expense, employee payroll deduction, deductible and cost of a routine visit. Then check whether employees would lose access to a clinic or hospital they use.
Give employees the exact plan name, coverage year, provider directory and drug list for each option. An employee can then confirm a particular clinic location with the insurer and check a prescription by name, dose and pharmacy without sharing personal medical details with the employer.
Ask for an itemized proposal showing the cost of each benefit, who can enroll, and how much the business and employee would each pay. That makes it easier to see what adding one benefit would do to the budget.
Prepare for a benefits discussion
For a renewal, have your renewal date, rate sheet and current benefit summary handy. For a first offer, an approximate employee count, work locations and a target start month are enough to begin.
