Let’s be friends…with travel nurse benefits.

Allied and Travel Nurse Benefits: Get the Scoop On What You Can Expect 

If you’re considering a job as a healthcare traveler, one of the first questions you’re probably asking yourself is ‘do travel nurses get benefits?’ And allied travelers, although we’re specifically writing travel nurses, everything here applies to you too. We don’t want you to feel left out. 

Travel nursing and healthcare travel in general comes with a lot of benefits, but here we’re specifically talking about healthcare and 401k benefits.  

Choosing the Best Health Insurance for Travel Nurses

When you’re looking into health insurance for travel nurses and allied travelers, the company you take a contract with matters. Triage offers Day One medical insurance that will cover you nationwide. After all, what good is an insurance network if it’s only available in your home state or where your agency is located? At Triage, we even have a couple different plan options, which means that you’re able to choose what’s right for you and your family.  

If you’re not sure which medical plan to choose, the best thing to do is figure out how you currently use your medical plan. Do you have a lot of medications or health concerns? If so, you may want to choose a plan with a lower deductible and higher weekly premium. Or are you relatively healthy and are comfortable with a higher deductible? Then, it may be better to keep more of your money in your pocket each week. If you choose the higher deductible plan, you are eligible for a Health Savings Account (HSA). An HSA is a special account that can be used strictly for medical, dental and vision expenses. You’ll choose an amount each week that will be deposited into your HSA directly from your paycheck. The money comes out pre-tax, which means that you can even save money on your tax bill each year. Additionally, the HSA is always yours—even if you leave Triage. It’s not a use or lose account so you can take your funds with you. 

You can also cover spouses and children on your Triage medical plan. Rates for your weekly medical premiums will depend on whether you’re covering yourself, your children, your spouse or your entire family. Because we’re all about transparency, we make our rates visible for everyone so you can accurately compare a contract before you sign on the dotted line.   

Additional Travel Nurse Benefits

In addition to medical insurance, Triage also offers dental and vision insurance. Both of these are also available with Day One coverage, so if you need an eye exam or a dental cleaning, you’ll be covered with Triage. Like the medical plan, there are providers throughout the country so you can visit the dentist or get some eyeglasses no matter where you are in the country.  

We also offer both life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment coverage. One thing to realize though—life insurance requires you to sign up when you first begin an assignment with Triage so don’t wait around. If you plan to try to get coverage after your initial enrollment period, you may have to submit a certificate of eligibility before coverage is granted.  

Lastly, don’t forget about your 401(k). You can choose to contribute your own money at any time after you receive your first paycheck. Setting up your account is easy to do and the money will come out of your paycheck pre-tax, just like the HSA. This money is always yours to keep, even if you decide to leave Triage.  

After you’ve worked for Triage for one year and completed at least 1000 hours, you’re eligible for our company match. Our company match can add up quickly and is basically free money—when does that happen? Triage will match 100% of the first three percent of funds that you contribute and 50% of the next two percent. This means if you contribute five percent of your paycheck, you’ll max out Triage’s contribution. And unlike lots of other workplaces, your match is vested immediately. There’s no complicated schedule here of when the funds are yours. What you see on your 401(k) statement is yours to keep.  

While not a traditional benefit, travel nurse stipends have long been considered as a perk. Traditionally, travelers have tried to pay for their monthly housing with one week’s worth of stipends and pocket the rest. There’s no rule against doing this, but you do want to be sure that you’re duplicating expenses in order to receive these stipends.  

Paying for Your Health Insurance

Making things easier on you is that your travel nurse insurance premiums are directly taken out of your paycheck each week. Part of the reason your pay estimate with your recruiter may not be completely accurate is that your recruiter doesn’t know if you’re planning on covering yourself, your family or just your spouse or kids. Additionally, they don’t know if you’ll be contributing to a 401(k) or HSA.  

Finding Travel Nurse Health Insurance Between Assignments

One of the biggest benefits about being a travel nurse or allied traveler is the ability to take some time off between assignments. Want to take a few months off during the holiday months so you can hang with your family after being away for so long? You have that ability and that right. But what happens with your insurance? You have a couple different options. 

Option 1: COBRA 

COBRA is always an option when you’re off work. And here’s how it works in a nutshell. NOTE: The Triage Benefits Team is the COBRA experts so feel free to reach out to benefits@triagestaff.com if you have in-depth questions on COBRA.  

COBRA basically keeps your insurance coverage on, as if you’re still with the company. You’ll still be covered under the Triage plan, but you’ll be responsible for the entire premium. That means you’ll be paying your same premium as before, plus the portion that Triage previously covered for you. This could be a great option if you’ve already hit your deductible and don’t want to start over with a new plan and new coverage. Remember, deductibles are by company and aren’t universal.  

Option 2: Take Another Assignment Within 26 Days 

One of the travel nurse benefits offered by Triage is the ability to take a few weeks off and still retain your travel nurse insurance. With Triage, you can have up to 26 days off between the end of your previous assignment and your new one without losing your insurance coverage. This is a great perk if you like to have a little time off each time.  

One thing to realize, you will have to pay back premiums for the weeks you were off work. Be aware that your first couple paychecks will have double premiums taken out to account for this.  

Option 3: Private Health Insurance for Travel Nurses 

Another option for travel nurse health insurance is to find a private policy. You can go through your state’s marketplace during open enrollment or if you’ve recently lost coverage through another policy. Additionally, you can usually find a private broker who can help you find a policy that meets your needs. 

One thing to consider if you’re looking through private travel nurse health insurance options is whether the network covers the entire country. One benefit of using agency coverage is that Triage has already made sure the network has in-network providers throughout the country. What good is a policy that doesn’t have a doctor available while you’re on assignment or you have to return home to visit a provider? 

Option 4: Going Without Insurance 

This option is incredibly risky and not one we recommend. However, there are a lot of folks who go without insurance. If you’re considering this, understand that you cannot just sign up for insurance if you suddenly need it. Because of rules and government regulations, you can’t sign up for insurance outside of your initial eligibility period and the annual open enrollment.  

We’ve seen plenty of folks suddenly find out that they’re pregnant or injured and want to gain insurance coverage to cover the pregnancy or injury. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. 

If you have questions regarding travel nurse benefits, including health insurance, vision and dental benefits, 401(k) plans and more, your Triage recruiter can help.