P/C agency teams up with benefits provider to offer benefits and administrative services
It never gets any easier. Competitive health insurers are getting fewer and fewer. Employee benefit programs are more complicated than ever. And the Affordable Care Act, with more than 1,000 pages of regulations, has challenged even the most proactive property/casualty agents and brokers to develop new levels of technical benefits expertise, new layers of customer service and the latest cutting-edge technology.
Some agents and brokers make the big investments, hiring new employees and building a new base of benefits resources; others seek out strategic partners that already have benefit specialists and the latest technology.
The Powers® Group, a St. Louis, Missouri-based property/casualty insurance specialist, found its strategic partner in Caravus®, another hometown agency that specializes in employee benefits and recently introduced a groundbreaking benefits and human resources management technology platform.
A number of trends-from product and enrollment enhancements to an aging workforce, and even the Affordable Care Act-are affecting the voluntary disability insurance arena. Agents and brokers who understand the trends and can demonstrate to employers and employees the value of the product can find opportunities to increase revenue and retention.
According to Kathy Plummer, director of product and market development at Unum, "A number of carriers, including traditional group carriers and standard voluntary benefits providers, offer voluntary disability." Some companies, including hers, have introduced new products or new features. Relatively newer, she says, are enhanced enrollment methods and the use of exchanges and other partnerships.
