The current health care debate has required many employers to attempt to strike a balance between offering employees benefit programs that provide real value and finding the corporate resources to sustain them.

Economically challenging times require creative solutions, especially among small and midsize employers who, despite budget constraints, are trying to offer comprehensive benefits packages that adequately protect, reward and/or retain their workforce.

Benefits are the focus point of employee retention issues. Traditional medical plans can be expensive. Health benefit costs continue to rise year-after-year, often in the double-digit percentage range. While benefits are important to employees, higher rates and less coverage can create more harm than good. To extend more affordable coverage to employees and their families and to help address the cost concerns for companies, Key Life Benefits, has designed a number of health and medical supplemental programs to fill the gap.

These supplemental programs allow business owners to create a baseline of group benefits, which they can fully or partially subsidize for eligible workers and their dependents. The supplemental non-insurance programs do not contain major medical insurance programs which are purchased by themselves.

The non-insurance programs allow employees the opportunity to purchase supplemental coverage and pick from a range of other voluntary benefits, such as short-term disability policies,critical-illness insurance and a host of supplemental health benefits, which they pay for out of pocket or with financial support from the employer.

These packaged benefits also allow small-business owners to control their costs while providing employees with a broad range of benefits, which are key to keeping and recruiting staff. Business owners save time and money by working with a single insurer and managing their account through one Web site. For employees, it is a ...