08.14.2014

Selling Benefits Plans to Pharmacists and Paramedical Practitioners

Karen Taylor Smith is the Senior Manager, Group Benefits at The Benefits Trust. She has worked with The Benefits Trust since 1997, using her deep knowledge of employee benefit plans to customize the right solutions for businesses. Karen speaks, blogs, and contributes regularly to various media outlets on group benefits and compensation topics.

Selling Benefits Plans to Pharmacists and Paramedical Practitioners

Pharmacy BenefitsThis is our third blog post in our on-going series about selling to healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals have specific needs for their healthcare plans – needs that conventional off-the-shelf plans typically cannot meet.

There is a great opportunity for benefits plan advisors to offer customized plans to this largely untapped market.

Pharmacists and paramedical practitioners each have similar needs for their benefits plans – they need a plan that excludes those healthcare services or products that they don’t need coverage for.

Pharmacists usually do not want a drug plan, as they can arrange to buy certain prescriptions at cost. Pharmacists still need healthcare and dental coverage, but they don’t want a benefits plan that forces them to pay for something they don’t need. Some pharmacists may even want a plan that includes catastrophic drug coverage but not day-to-day or routine drug coverage.

Similarly, paramedical practitioners will often trade their services with other professionals. A massage therapist may offer massage treatments to a physiotherapist in exchange for treatment, for example. These practitioners typically will want a benefits plan that will cover those services they need, but exclude those theyhave ready access to.

Unfortunately, most benefits plans for small groups don’t offer these levels of customization.

These medical professionals often will not buy benefits coverage because they cannot find a plan that meets their unique needs. Instead of buying a benefits plan that forces them to buy coverage they don’t want, they simply do not buy a plan. Typical off-the-shelf plans for small groups are not well-suited to serve them.

Pharmacists and paramedical practitioners need to be made aware that they do have options for a customized small group benefits plan. They can have a plan that wraps around their needs, excluding those things they don’t want and providing coverage for everything else.

A customized or hybrid benefits plan will allow the practice or clinic owner to make precise decisions about the design of their plan.

We recommend a hybrid benefits solution for pharmacists and paramedical practitioners. Through a combination of a conventional benefits plan and a healthcare spending account (HCSA), they can build a plan that covers exactly what they want.

A hybrid plan allows the business owner to decide the specific options they want for conventional coverage, and the specific dollar amount they want for the flexible HCSA (which will cover any additional healthcare expenses). It is easy for advisors to customize a simple hybrid plan that gives the client exactly what they want.

Click here for more information about hybrid plan design.

Standard small group plans will not give pharmacists and paramedical practitioners control over their costs and their coverage. A well-designed hybrid benefits plan will.

>> The Benefits Trust can help advisors customize a benefits plan to fit the unique needs of pharmacists, paramedical practitioners, and other healthcare providers. Contact us today to build a better benefits plan.

Previously in Our Selling to Healthcare Professionals Series

Coming Up in Our Selling to Healthcare Professionals Series

  • Introducing the Veterinarian SelectFlex Benefits Plan
  • Selling Benefits Plans to Family Health Teams

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