— for example, finding a hotel near a
treatment facility in another location,
providing referrals to physicians or other
providers, helping sort out EOBs from
the medical carrier, etc. They also help
with post-care issues like rehabilitation
services, modifications to the home, and
finding child care.
Recession’s impact
CI products are also benefiting from a
heightened interest in ancillary benefits
resulting from today’s economic conditions.
“As an industry we’ve seen that dur-
ing this recession you would intuitively
expect that people would see that they
have less disposable income and would
likely spend less of their paychecks on
flexible spending accounts, voluntary
benefits and things that are going to
impact their take-home pay, says Jilek.
“However, what we’re actually seeing is
the participation rates across the board,
including CI, are actually increasing year
over year.”
Since Unum rolled out their group CI
product just a little over a year ago, Jilek
reports, they’ve seen a “strong increase”
in the year-over-year sales numbers for
their CI portfolio.
Emphasis on educating brokers
To sell CI, says Weiser, “You need to
understand the value and the need, and
you need to know how to present that
to the employee. So we’re working to
educate these brokers first and foremost
— it’s different than selling health, or
dental, or disability.”
Similarly, at Unum, “We’re trying
to position ourselves as a communica-
tor about the different strategies that are
available to brokers,” says Jilek.
While it has yet to be determined
what all of PPACA’s impacts will be,
Weiser notes, “the need for employers
to continue to offer different types of
ancillary benefits to their employees will
continue to be front and center.” EBA
