One of the main ways that Americans get life, health, disability and long-term care insurance is through their employers. If you’re fortunate enough to have insurance benefits through your employer, here are some things you need to do. Your first step is to understand exactly what your employer provides. For instance, many employers provide, at their own expense, “basic” life and disability insurance benefits. While these are nice benefits to have, they may not be enough to meet your full coverage needs. Check to see if your employer offers you the option to purchase additional coverage through a group insurance plan. Many employers do.

If your employer does not provide a group insurance benefit, it may make coverage available to you on a voluntary, employee-paid basis. While you pay the full cost of the benefits under a voluntary arrangement, there are several advantages to buying insurance this way. Voluntary plans help workers get coverage more easily than if they were to purchase an individual policy on their own outside of the workplace. Premiums are typically paid through an automatic payroll deduction, and are sometimes less than what you would pay for a policy purchased completely on your own because of efficiencies in enrollment and billing procedures.

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