Any time you're dealing with millions of data points, you're bound to find some outliers. The Warren Buffets of household income, the Yao Mings of adult height, the Beatles. It's where we find the exceptional, the interesting, and the weird.
Form 5500 data is no exception, so let's take a look at one of my favorite repositories of employee benefits weirdness: obscure insurance coverage.
The Form 5500 Schedule A is where plans report information on their constituent insurance policies. It includes information on premiums, broker commissions, carrier data, etc. It also lists the coverage types provided by the policy, including:
- Health
- Dental
- Vision
- Life
- Other (Please Specify)
Ah. Please specify! That's music to the ears of someone in search of the weird. Here are some of my favorites. All of these appear on actual, filed form 5500s.
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Massage Therapy – This is offered by Tiffany and Company, Salesforce.com, Mid Pac Petroleum, United Group Insurance, and Shell Vacations. You can use Google to find links to their respective job application pages.
Dread Disease Policy – As opposed to pleasant diseases?
Sup Life – Not much. 'Sup with you?
STD Accident –Aren't they always?
Organ and Tissue Transplant Policy – If you have a job that deems this a necessary coverage, then I applaud your courage.
War Risk Policy – See above.
Mexico Coverage – For those "business trips" to Tijuana.
Pet Care Insurance – From the "why are my premiums so high?" department.
Instrument – My tuba!
What's the weirdest insurance coverage you've ever seen?
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