From the employee’s point of view
Getting enrolled/insured
Employee benefits, aka group insurance is quite different from individual insurance. Although what the end consumer gets is insurance, the process of getting that insurance is place is not the same. Because there are numerous people on a plan, the risk to an insurer is diversified. Acceptance is usually guaranteed. Having many people on a plan is somewhat like a diversified portfolio of stocks; if one stock drops or one person gets sick, the cost if mitigated by the other stocks or healthy employees. This means that there is usually no underwriting/medical questions.
Limitations of group benefits
Because acceptance is usually guaranteed and employers only want to pay so much, there are limitations to what group insurance will cover. As a rule of thumb health and dental coverage is good but life and disability insurance is limited. For example, life insurance is usually limited to 2X salary. This is nowhere near enough life insurance for most people. Therefore employees often need to top up what they have through their employer with private insurance.
Various Types of Employee benefits: Employee Benefits Overview | Employee Benefits - From The Employee’s Point Of View | Employee Benefits - From The Employer’s Point Of View