Rate Calculator for Age-Banded Benefit Plans
Purpose: This help guide explains how you can configure benefit rates with a calculator for age-banded benefit plans in BambooHR.
Age-banded rate calculator
Within BambooHR, you have the option to use the age-banded rate calculator for medical, voluntary life, and disability plans. Employees will be able to view rates during their enrollment experience. Additionally, you will not need to enter rates for the plan when approving employees' benefit elections since the system will auto-populate calculated rates on the approval page. This helps you save time during an enrollment period.
Keep in mind the following details when using the age-banded rate calculator.
- Calculations assume USD and will not work correctly with other currencies.
- Employees and dependents will need to have an age (Birth Date) entered on the employee profile and be in an age group included in the plan setup in order for the system to calculate a rate for them.
- Example: If an admin only includes rates for ages up to 60, the system will not calculate a rate for an employee or dependent who is 61 years old and up. In this case, the admin will need to enter the rate manually on the approval page.
- The calculator only allows for one column of age-banded rates, not multiple.
- Example: The $220 monthly rate is the same for a 30-year old employee as it is for a 30-year old spouse.
- However, for age-banded medical plans, contribution amounts can vary based on the setup under "How much will they pay?" in the Eligibility and Cost step.
- Calculated rates are based on what the employee's or dependent's age is on the default effective date of their enrollment in the plan.
We are releasing rate calculators for various benefit plans over time. Please visit our Product Updates page to stay up-to-date with the latest changes in Benefits Administration.
Plan setup
To create an age-banded medical plan with the calculator, navigate to Settings > Benefits > Plans. On the Plans tab, choose Medical from the Create New Plan dropdown menu.
If you have an existing age-banded medical plan, it will automatically calculate rates for dependents. However, if your plan only covers the employee, you will need to add additional coverage levels in order for the system to calculate rates for dependents.
After you fill out information in the first step (Plan Details), you will be able to select coverage levels and the rate in the second step (Coverage Options). The default coverage level is "Employee." If you need to include additional coverage levels, select the checkmark. The system calculates age-banded rates for both employees and dependents.
Under "How are monthly premiums calculated?" choose Age-Banded Rate. Once you select a rate, you will not be able to edit your selection after saving the benefit plan with its settings.
For each eligibility group under "How much will they pay?" in the third step (Eligibility & Cost), you can determine if there are different company contribution amounts for employees and dependents.*
- If the company contribution amounts are the same, the Covered Individuals column will default to "All" and you will be able to enter a percentage or dollar amount for how much of the total cost the company pays. The system will auto-populate the Employee Pays column based on what you enter in the Company Pays box.
- If the company contribution amounts are different, the Covered Individuals column will populate the Employee and Dependents rows. Then, you can enter a percentage or dollar amount for how much of the total cost the company pays. The system will auto-populate the Employee Pays column based on what you enter in the Company Pays box.
The Company Pays field cannot be left blank, but 0 is a valid entry.
*If Employee is the only coverage option selected within the benefit plan setup, the different company contributions checkbox will not show.
The Age-Banded Rates table will appear for you to add age groups by setting age ranges and then determining the monthly rate for employees and dependents (if applicable) in each age group. You can add as many age groups as needed by clicking +Add Age Group. If you need to delete an age group, hover your cursor over a row and click on the x. Note that you can only delete the last group in the table, not anywhere in the table.
You will be able to edit rates in the Age-Banded Rates table after saving the benefit plan with its settings. Updated rates will apply to employees' enrollment experience and the admin approval page for pending elections.*
If the employee selects an age-banded medical plan and is part of an age group (as determined by the Age-Banded Rates table in the plan setup), the system will calculate the employee's per-paycheck rate and show it on the plan card.
When the employee chooses to include a dependent, the system will automatically adjust the rate shown on the plan card.
The employee's calculated per-paycheck rate will also show up in the Enrollment Summary table at the end of their enrollment experience.
If an employee elects to enroll in an age-banded medical plan, the approval page will have rates auto-populated in the Employee Pays and Company Pays fields. This helps you save time when reviewing and approving your employees’ benefit elections.
Plan setup
You can also configure age-banded rates for voluntary life plans.
While entering plan details, ensure you have Voluntary selected in the Plan Type field and Life in the Life/AD&D field. Those selections will bring up the age-banded rate plan under “How are monthly premiums calculated?” in the Coverage Options step.
In the Coverage Options step, verify coverage levels and coverage amounts for the plan. Upon verifying that information, select Age-Banded Rate and continue to the Eligibility & Cost step to enter Employee Pays and Company Pays information.
Please note that existing voluntary life and life/AD&D plans will default to Variable Rate, but you can edit the selection if needed.
Under “How much will they pay?”, the Company Pays field will default to $0.00 since companies do not usually make contributions to this plan type. However, you can edit the amount if needed or use the option to change it to a percentage amount. The Employee Pays field will automatically adjust based on the amount entered in Company Pays.
After reviewing your Company Pays and Employee Pays information, continue to the Age-Banded Rates table.
- This is where you can enter age groups and the rate per $1,000 of coverage for each age group.
- You can add as many age groups as needed by clicking +Add Age Group. If you need to delete an age group, hover your cursor over a row and click on the x. Note that you can only delete the last group in the table, not anywhere in the table.
- If the plan covers the employee’s children, there will be an additional field below the Age-Banded Rates table where you can enter the monthly premium amount (defaults to $1,000 but editable).
- The rate field allows up to four decimal places while the per $ of coverage field only allows up to two decimal places.
- If the plan covers the employee’s spouse/partner, there will be a checkbox above the Age-Banded Rates table where you can specify if the spouse/partner rate should be based on the employee’s age instead of their own.
Life Rate fields allow up to four decimal places.
You also have the option to use the rate calculator for age-banded voluntary life and AD&D plans. You can follow the same steps as shown for age-banded voluntary life plans with one exception. In the Plan Details step, you will need to select Both Life & AD&D in the Plan Type field.
Additionally, the Age-Banded Rates table for a voluntary life/AD&D plan provides an informational tooltip explaining how you have the option to add separate rates by entering the sum of both rates.
During benefits enrollment, employees will be able to view how much they will pay per paycheck within the plan card. When the employee is determining coverage amounts, the cost per paycheck will automatically adjust based on the rate calculations from the plan setup.
Once the employee completes enrollment, they can view the calculated cost for the plan on their Enrollment Summary page.
Like age-banded medical plans, the system will auto-populate costs on the admin approval page for age-banded voluntary life and voluntary life/AD&D plans. You can edit the amounts if needed.
Plan setup
To create an age-banded disability plan, navigate to Settings > Benefits > Plans. On the Plans tab, choose Disability from the Create New Plan dropdown menu.
After filling out plan details, continue to the Coverage Options step. Here, you will be able to determine coverage amounts (referring to the amount of disability income an employee will receive when eligible). The following section is where you can select Age-Banded Rate under “How are monthly premiums calculated?” This will bring up the Age-Banded Rates table in the next step—Eligibility and Cost.
Once you determine eligibility groups and Employee/Company Pays* information, scroll down to the Age-Banded Rates table.
*If you have chosen to automatically enroll employees into the plan, the Company Pays field will default to 100% (assuming it is an employer-paid plan). If employees will not be automatically enrolled, the Company Pays field will default to 0% (assuming it is a voluntary, employee-paid plan). However, the Company Pays field will remain editable in either cases.
- Within this table, you can enter age groups and the monthly rate (up to four decimal places) for each age group. (The Employee Pays field will be automatically calculated based on what you enter in the Company Pays field.)
- The Monthly Rate column header will adjust based on your selection in the Disability Plan Type field within the Plan Details step.
- For short-term disability plans, the monthly rate is per $10 of weekly coverage.
- For long-term disability plans, the monthly rate is per $100 of monthly coverage.
- You can add as many age groups as needed by clicking +Add Age Group. If you need to delete an age group, hover your cursor over a row and click on the x. Note that you can only delete the last group in the table, not anywhere in the table.
- To help you add monthly rates correctly, we have provided you with an example calculator. This is where you can enter an age up to 100 and a salary amount. The system will then calculate the monthly premium based on the plan setup.
- This informational tool tip will help you understand how the calculation works. STD will show weekly benefit amount (dividing the salary by 12 months) while LTD will show monthly benefit amount (dividing the salary by 52 weeks).
When electing benefits, employees will be able to view how much they will pay for the age-banded disability plan per paycheck.
If you set a maximum amount for the benefit plan, the plan card will show the maximum amount instead of the percentage of monthly/weekly wages.
If an employee decides to enroll in the age-banded disability plan, they can view the calculated cost for that plan on their Enrollment Summary page.
Like age-banded medical plans, the system will auto-populate costs on the admin approval page for age-banded disability plans. You can edit the amounts if needed.
Editing age-banded rates
You will be able to edit rates in the Age-Banded Rates table after saving the benefit plan with its settings. Updated rates will apply to employees' enrollment experience and the admin approval page for pending elections.*
*Approved benefit elections will not reflect the new rates. In this case, the age-banded medical plan will be like a variable rate plan with costs (rates) edited or entered manually. You can edit the employee's approved benefit elections on the approval page to reflect the updated rates, which will also show in the CSV/Excel reports, PDF forms (upon download), or carrier connections.
If you update the age-banded rate for approved benefit elections via bulk enroll or the employee profile, you will need to communicate the new enrollment details with your carriers.