BENEFITS & HR A WINNING COMBINATION    Chas. Lunsford Sons & Associates recognizes need for more than group benefits marketing and management Employee benefits sales don't have to dominate or even come close to matching commercial property/casualty insurance revenue to be a valuable component of agency strategy. Even a small portion of the lucrative group health benefits can make a difference in the bottom line-and help an agency establish its role as a full-service trusted advisor. At Chas. Lunsford Sons & Associates (Lunsford) in Roanoke, Virginia, benefits generates only about 10% of gross revenues-about the same as personal lines-but it is a key resource for commercial clients and a valuable addition to the firm's capabilities, according to President Roy E. Bucher Jr. "Employee benefits help us round out our accounts," says Bucher, who also serves as the agency's chairman of the board and treasurer. "If we can do a good job on the property/casualty insurance-and we do-we can convince our customers to give us an opportunity to handle the employee benefits." It's all about the trust-both outside and inside the organization. Bucher admits that the agency's property/casualty insurance specialists, who are responsible for the largest accounts and the greatest premium volume, were cautious at first. "They didn't want anything to interfere with the relationships they had developed with the commercial clients. If our employee benefits staff wasn't successful in meeting their needs, they were concerned they could lose the accounts." Click here for the complete article …

OPPORTUNITIES IN DISABILITY    Agents, brokers are well positioned to provide paycheck protection In the 1990s, disability insurance carriers went through a rather rough period, recalls Dan Steenerson, CLU, ChFC, RHU, president and CEO of Disability Insurance Services, San Diego. "This caused a number of carriers to exit the marketplace," he says, noting that those that remained have done well over the last decade or so. In today's marketplace, adds Larry Schneider, disability insurance specialist at Disability Insurance Resource Center, Albuquerque, carriers are making the contracts a little richer. "They're offering higher benefit amounts," he explains. "At the same time, underwriting is more precise. Carriers have more tools at their disposal and are more tenacious in gathering and using information." Better risk data allows for more focused underwriting. "With individual long-term disability for some of the higher paid executives or doctors, we've seen carriers loosen up some underwriting requirements," observes Doug Mantz, vice president of sales at The Farmington Company, Farmington, Connecticut. "Some have been more liberal." Some carriers are differentiating products with catastrophic coverages, notes Steenerson. For example, some will, in addition to a base benefit of, say, $5,000, pay an additional $8,000 if the insured can't perform two daily living activities. It's a relatively inexpensive rider. Click here for the complete article …

A POST-RECESSION REPACKAGING OF DISABILITY    Risk-averse buyers take a serious look at voluntary products Historically, when the economy takes a downward turn and layoffs loom, disability and workers compensation claims increase. Workers who fear for their economic security reach out for benefits they might otherwise skip if their jobs were secure. That may have been the pattern in previous crunches, but the big recession of 2008 may have had a different effect on workers, according to two leading disability and voluntary benefits insurers. Sheryle Ohme, senior vice president of claims operations in the Minneapolis office of Assurant Employee Benefits, a division of Assurant, Inc., in New York City, says that, contrary to tradition, the disability incident rate did not increase during the recession. "Our best analysis is that people seemed to believe that if they left their job for a short- or long-term disability, their job or their company might not be there when they return." Ohme, a 25-year veteran of disability claims management, says economic trends and the slow integration of health reform legislation are driving dramatic changes in income protection-related employee benefits marketing. Employee benefits and human resources-related costs continue to increase, she notes, and the budget available to maintain or increase employer-paid benefits is shrinking. "Employers are certain that this upward trend will continue and will only get worse as more health reform provisions become effective," she says. As a result, employers are looking for ways to provide benefits they believe their employees should have, without incurring the costs. Click here for the complete article …

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