Age-Banded Benefit Plans: Questions for Clients

What reference date are we using for the age of the individual? (They may need to get this from their broker or plan documents.) Most commonly this will be...

  • Rate goes up first of the month following birthday,
  • Rate is frozen based on age as of 1/1, or
  • Rate is frozen based on age as of the start of the plan year

If the dependent rate is age-based, how many dependents are included in the calculation? If the rate for a dependent 20 or under is $100/month, what is the cost for three dependents? Five? Twelve? If only a certain number of dependents are included in the calculation, should the system select the oldest dependents, or the youngest?

A lot of clients are used to providing us with only the employee portion of the plan, such as for a deduction. However, to set up a benefit plan, we will need three pieces of information (monthly rates):

  • Total cost
  • Employer portion
  • Employee portion