After nearly two decades, the Council for Disability Awareness changed its name on May 15, 2024. The word “Income” was added to the name to communicate the CDIA’s expanding services and growing membership.
Over the past eight months I have been excited to participate in this change by serving, first as Interim President, and now as President of the CDIA. Our prior President, Carol Harnett, passed in August, 2023, after a relapse of cancer. Carol was well-known and her loss was widely felt by the CDA and throughout the industry. When I was asked to begin serving in her place, you might imagine, for an ‘old warhorse’ disability guy, how honored I felt.
Fast forward to now and we are making significant progress in redefining our mission, audience, website, media platforms, and membership. With the introduction of our new name, I want to share a quick review of what the CDIA is involved in and our plans for the near future.
“Blue Sky” Revelations
Our new direction came about through what I called an open-ended, “Blue Sky” exploration of our research and marketing activities. We found many of our services and member activities are valued and depended upon. However, we recognized that our websites, in particular, were dated and that some tools didn’t function. We had three separate sites to serve consumers, agents/brokers/consultants, and our member companies. One of my first decisions was to develop a single website to serve all of our audiences seamlessly and responsively. Work on this project has begun and you will see the results later this year.
Clarifying Our Name
Another issue for us was how the general public perceived the CDA name. Many outside the insurance and disability industry thought our mission was based on the “disabled” American worker. In fact, for two decades our real focus has been to educate working Americans about the risks of disability and the catastrophic financial impact on his or her family. The confusion about our name was understandable.
We also recognize that the disability income resources for working Americans are changing rapidly. New legislation, regulations, and the economy have created evolving options and challenges for employees, companies, and insurance providers. In this new landscape, the Council for Disability Income Awareness clarifies our work while retaining our well-known name recognition from the past two decades.
For Agents, Brokers, and Consultants
After consumers, our largest audiences are insurance and financial professionals throughout North America. To support their day-to-day marketing and sales efforts we provide outstanding educational tools and statistics at no cost. Thousands of brokers rely on these materials which we update annually and make available 24/7.
CDIA Member Firms
Member firms represent our key audience and are our most engaged participants. We continuously monitor new research and regulatory agency activities to help our members respond to changing regulation requirements and marketplace needs. Our CDIA staff researcher is a well-known expert in the field. His expertise allows us to do deep dives into emerging data and trends.
Expanding the CDIA Member Audience
Historically our membership was exclusively made up of insurance carriers, both Group and Individual. Today, in addition to our insurance company members, we also recognize the growth and importance of related firms that provide industry products and services, such as:
- Claims adjudication
- Rehabilitations services and advice
- Reinsurance
- Specialized disability products
- Research firms
- Underwriting resources
- Providers of regulatory guidance and updates
The “Broker’s Broker”
Our invitation to join the CDIA also now includes the “broker’s, broker” segment of our industry’s distribution model. Looking back 40 years, over 300 disability carriers were marketing products. Often, these firms were small mutual companies that provided products to their agencies and agents. However, the catastrophic losses in the 90s caused most of those carriers to disappear. Also lost was in-house training on disability insurance that the carriers provided. While IDI carriers provide agent training, much of that role has been assumed by the “broker’s broker”…disability IMOs. The majority of IDI is written through these agencies and they provide training and sales support throughout the process. We are approaching more of these agencies to join and bring their insights to the CDIA.
The Big Ask
I have a big ask: Are the insurance carriers you work with members of the Council for Disability Income Awareness? I see material developed and published used on their websites and other collateral marketing material by many carriers that are not members of the CDIA. Don’t you think that they should be helping to fund the research and educational programs that the CDIA sponsors? Don’t you think that the CDIA, with its focus on the American worker, the agents that work with those workers, using the materials developed and published by the CDIA, should have your insurance carrier as a proud member? If you do think so, let them know!
Current Membership of the CDIA
Carrier Members:
- Guardian
- American Fidelity
- Ameritas
- Illinois Mutual
- Lincoln Financial
- MassMutual
- MetLife
- United Healthcare
Associate Members:
- Allsup
- MGIS
- MD Guidelines
- SmithGroup
- The Claim Lab
I hope you will look at the outstanding insurance companies that have supported the CDIA, often for many years, and consider them for your client’s needs.
I hope this article provides you a better understanding of the CDIA, our role, and purpose, and that you also know that we are actively listening to you to better understand your needs as you carry forward the message of disability awareness to your clients, both individuals and companies. Please feel free to reach out to me at bherum@disabilityhappens.com.
