Employee benefit packages are a critical tool for enhancing employee wellness. An identity protection benefit can not only enhance employee wellness but also protect their existing benefits.
Employee benefits aren’t just a convenient set of offerings that make life easier for employees. They are essential protections that enhance wellness and empower employees to live healthier, happier lives.
An effective employee benefit package doesn’t just protect one area of an employee’s life—it protects every aspect of their life, from their health and finances to their families. For human resource teams, giving employees the tools they need to not only enhance wellness, but also protect their existing benefits is crucial.
And of all the employee benefits available, you might be surprised that an identity protection benefit is one of the most effective ways to protect their existing benefits.
Protects finances and investments
There are several employee benefits that protect an employee’s finances, including a 401K, life insurance, and many others. However, an identity protection benefit is unique in the sense that it can help an employee protect their savings and investments from the fallout of an identity theft incident.
First and foremost, an identity protection benefit protects employees from the costs related to identity theft, which includes the costs of hiring legal representation, lost wages due to needing to take time off work to resolve identity theft, and more.
But it also helps employees recuperate the funds that may have been stolen. And when you consider that 29 percent of Identity Theft Resource victims reported losing $10,000 or more to identity theft, this kind of coverage can prevent catastrophic damage to an employee’s finances.
An identity protection benefit also protects an employee’s finances by alerting them to the first signs of identity theft. This includes high risk transactions on their credit or debit cards, changes in their credit score, and even alerts them to suspicious activity in their 401K accounts.
Protects health care benefits
For many employees, a Health Savings Account (HSA) is a vital benefit. By allowing them to set aside pre-tax funds for qualified medical expenses, an HSA allows employees with a High-Deductible Health Plan to offset the often-high cost of medical care and protect their finances from an unexpected and potentially devastating medical expense.
However, an HSA makes a very attractive target for fraudsters. With information like Social Security Numbers (SSN), medical histories, and policy numbers being exposed in data breaches, stolen by hackers, or even available for purchase on the dark web, it's never been easier for digital criminals to gain access to an employee’s HSA and drain the funds from it.
And other health insurance benefits aren’t safe from fraudsters either. With an employee’s SSN, policy information, or medical records, digital criminals can commit medical identity fraud, which involves using someone’s information to fraudulently obtain medical services, prescriptions, or equipment. In fact, there were over 10,000 medical identity fraud victims in the last year alone. This can have a range of negative impacts on the victim, including:
Incorrect medical records that can lead to incorrect treatment, inaccurate diagnoses, and more
Financial losses when victims are liable for fraudulent charges
Delayed or denied treatment due to fraudulent activity
By implementing an identity protection benefit, you can help ensure that employees get the most from their health insurance benefit. A comprehensive identity protection benefit will monitor your employees’ HSAs, alerting them to any suspicious activity and empowering them to take action to prevent further damage from occurring.
Other identity monitoring features will also alert employees when sensitive information like SSNs are breached or detected on the dark web, giving them the opportunity to start the identity restoration process and prevent fraud. An identity protection benefit will also provide reimbursement for HSA fraud, protecting an employee’s finances from the fallout of an HSA fraud incident.
To learn more about how an identity protection benefit can not only help protect employees, but also reduce corporate risk, visit our Business Hub.
