Broker World

Hyatt Legal Plans

Hyatt Legal Plans, a MetLife company, announced that it has released a new resource designed to help employers understand the impact that employees’ personal legal matters have on the workplace.

Quantifying the Workplace Impact of Employees’ Personal Legal Matters: Five Issues Addressed with Group Legal Plans reveals how employees’ routine legal matters can affect workplace productivity and illustrates how group legal plans as a voluntary benefit may help mitigate the impact, while contributing toward achieving objectives of employee retention and cost control.

The guide outlines five ways employers can be impacted by their employees’ personal legal problems, including decreased productivity (distractions, duration of issues, and missed work days on the part of employees), as well as the emotional and physical toll. For example, nearly half (47 percent) of female employees and more than a third of male employees (37 percent) surveyed reported having their physical or emotional health negatively impacted when dealing with their personal legal issue, which can lead to an erosion in work performance.

The study highlighted in the guide found that just 30 percent of employees who used a group legal plan reported taking vacation days toward resolving their legal issue, versus 50 percent who do not have a legal plan. In addition, employees who used a group legal plan resolved their issue in 4.4 weeks on average, compared to 6.1 weeks for those who did not. Loyalty toward their employers is higher among those employees with access to group legal plans.

OM Financial Life

OM Financial Life Insurance Company has been renamed Fidelity & Guaranty Life (Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company, and Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company of New York).

Under the leadership of Lee Launer, chairman, CEO and president, formerly, executive vice president and chief investment officer of MetLife, the company will remain Baltimore-based and continue to emphasize fixed annuity, indexed annuity and indexed universal life products, which will be distributed exclusively through leading IMOs and independent agents.

United Benefit Advisors Survey Reports
Employer Opinions on Health Care Benefits

Despite concerns about the impact of rising health care costs on their businesses and employees, only one in six employers (16.3 percent) say they favor a federally tax-funded universal health care system, according to the 2011 UBA Benefit Opinions Survey.

The survey was conducted in February 2011 through the joint effort of more than 140 independent advisory firms that comprise United Benefit Advisors. Member firms invited clients and area employers to complete the web-based survey, and the resulting database contains the responses of 1,280 employers.

Nearly all (99.4 percent) top decision makers are concerned with the impact health care costs are having or are going to have on their overall corporate costs, and more than 50 percent said it is a critical concern. Just slightly fewer (97.9 percent) are also concerned with the impact health care costs are having on their employees, up nearly 20 percent from three years ago and nearly identical to last year. These results were consistent regardless of industry, employee size category or geographic region.

Additional findings presented in the survey include:

• Employers that still believe a good benefits program helps attract good employees represented 96.9 percent of the respondents, while 93.8 percent believe good benefits keep employees from leaving.

• Employers are less prepared to meet the legislative and regulatory requirements placed upon them, and those requirements are becoming increasingly complex.

• Nearly three-quarters of the employers responding felt there is a definite role for the federal government to play regarding health—requiring the disclosure of cost and quality information of hospitals and physicians.

The UBA 2011 Benefit Opinions Survey includes employer perspectives on health care strategy, benefits philosophy and opinion, health plan management, personal health management, scope of benefits offered, and employee communications.

The 2011 UBA Benefit Opinion Survey complements the 2010 UBA Health Plan Survey and is the nation’s largest comprehensive and validated survey of plan design and costs, with responses from 17,113 health plans sponsored by 11,413 employers representing a large number of industries and various size categories nationwide.

United Benefit Advisors is a member-owned alliance of more than 140 premier independent benefit advisory firms with more than 165 offices throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

For more information go to www.­ubabenefits.com or to see a short video about further findings of the survey go to: http://wn.ubabenefits.com/Home/Video/tabid/2789/Default.aspx?ResourceID=7821.

American General

American General Benefit Solutions, a business unit of American General Life Companies, has launched a new bundling program that offers savings for three of its most popular insurance products provided through American General Life Companies.

Under the multi-product solutions program, employers can provide their workers with 23 group and personal product choices—including term life, universal life, short and long term disability, dental, vision, limited health care, critical illness, accident, cancer and hospital indemnity—while holding down their benefits costs. Price adjustments are applied when employers include one or more employer-funded or employee-paid products with the employer-funded group dental, group term life or group long term disability plans provided through American General.

The price adjustment depends on the number of products in a bundled package and offers the greatest savings when three additional products are offered with the employer-funded plan. The bundled products could likely be handled through one application, making for a more seamless and efficient enrollment.

The multi-product solutions program excludes supplemental life, dependent life, accidental death and dismemberment, New York Disability Benefit Law, New Jersey Temporary Disability Benefit, EAP buy-up and group limited health care. Worksite requires participation of the greater of two lives or 25 percent of eligible employees. For life to be considered a qualifying product, the plan schedule must be salary-based or a flat plan of at least $25,000. If standard participation is not satisfied, discounts will be reduced in part or in their entirety.

Brokers' Service Marketing Group

Brokers' Service Marketing Group (BSMG) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with BRAMCO Financial Resources to integrate the tioTERM term life platform into their institutional account sales support model.

Under the terms of the agreement, BSMG will provide a customized version of tioTERM, a web-based solution for term life insurance sales and processing. It is a fully integrated technology and processing platform for quantifying client needs, quoting, comparing, selecting and processing term life applications. tioTERM incorporates a paperless process, an electronic signature option, and a choice of leading carriers, all in a turnkey system which significantly reduces the time and effort required to write a term life insurance application. The unique tioTERM operational platform improves the speed, accuracy and efficiency of term life processing.

Established more than 30 years ago, BRAMCO Financial includes 28 independently owned full service general agencies distributing products for the top insurance carriers in the country. BRAMCO agencies help insurance producers deliver the best product and service experience to their clients.

Brokers' Service Marketing Group , established in 1972, provides insurance solutions to producers and financial institutions. BSMG has vast experience in the brokerage environment paired with a specialization in providing customized services to individual producers, producer groups, and financial service organizations.

Innovation Solutions Insurance Services

Lynne Rosenberg Kidd, founder and president of Innovative Solutions Insurance Services, is among four women being honored by the Anti-Defamation League at its 17th annual Deborah Awards Women of Achievement Dinner on Wednesday, May 11, in Los Angeles.

The ADL's Deborah Awards are presented annually to outstanding women for their professional and philanthropic dedication to the Los Angeles community.

Rosenberg Kidd was honored by the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2010 by being ranked among the top insurance brokers in Los Angeles. She is a current member of several industry associations and serves on the Protective/West Coast Life and AXA advisory councils.

In addition to her professional career, Rosenberg Kidd places an emphasis on charitable work, serving on the board of trustees for Providence Little Company of Mary Hospitals and the Young Presidents Organization, the board of governors for Occidental College, and a board member of Las Madrecitas. In these capacities she has been a major sponsor and supporter of women’s health days, student scholarship funds, palliative care, and the Orthopedic Hospital of downtown Los Angeles.

Aflac
Aflac has introduced a voluntary dental insurance policy, the features of which include:

Annual maximum building benefit: This benefit increases each covered person’s policy year maximum by $100 after each 12 consecutive months the policy is in force, up to a maximum of $500 per covered person.

Orthodontic rider benefit: The enhanced rider benefit will pay $500 for the initial orthodontic treatment and then $50 for continuing treatment each month up to 18 months.

Dependent age extended: The dependent age has been increased to 26.

Issue age extended: The issue age has been increased to 70.

A recent Aflac study found 33 percent of consumers are not offered dental plans at work while 86 percent said employer-offered dental benefits are important to them. Research by LIMRA shows dental insurance is the third most desired benefit after major medical insurance and retirement benefits.

The Dental Care Research study was conducted by insightexpress in June 2010, via an online survey of 1,000 consumers, to understand which plans are most commonly offered by employers, how the plan pays out benefits, and how important dental benefits are when evaluating employer benefits packages.

To participate, respondents had to be from 25 to 54 years of age with an income of $30,000 or more. The final sample is representative of the U.S. population based on census data for age and geographic region.

Aflac Group insurance policies are underwritten by Continental American Insurance Company.

Prudential
PruTerm WorkLife 65 is a new term life insurance product designed to provide Americans and their families life insurance protection throughout their working years and help ensure their coverage remains in place by waiving premium payments in the event of unemployment or a disability. PruTerm WorkLife 65 is issued from ages 25 to 55 (35 to 55 in Washington State).

Offered by Pruco Life Insurance Company, PruTerm WorkLife 65 provides peace of mind with built-in benefits. In the event of a disability before age 65, the premiums are waived until the insured recovers or turns age 65, whichever is first. The one-time unemployment benefit waives one continuous year of premiums (terms and conditions apply).

PruTerm WorkLife 65 policyowners can convert their existing term policy to permanent insurance at any time up to age 65 without having to go through additional medical testing.

In research, PruTerm WorkLife 65 resonated strongly with a wide range of consumers. Ninety percent of those surveyed by Prudential thought it offered better value than a basic term product. Younger consumers (ages 25 to 34) thought the guaranteed coverage to age 65 had the strongest appeal. For those ages 35 to 44, the disability and unemployment benefit appealed most.

PruTerm WorkLife 65 is issued in all states by Pruco Life Insurance Company (where available) except New York, where, if available, it is issued by Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey. Both are Prudential Financial companies located in Newark, NJ.

Diversified Brokerage Services

Terri Getman, JD, CLU, ChFC, AEP (Distinguished) has joined Diversified Brokerage Services, Inc. (DBS) as business development director. She is excited about the opportunity to be truly objective in presenting the most suitable life solutions for a client’s estate and/or business.

She joins DBS with an extensive background in marketing large, complex life cases. Prior to joining DBS, she led the advanced marketing team for The Prudential Insurance Company of America. Her 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, combined with her extensive legal orientation, will not only enhance advisor and client understanding of advanced sales strategies, but will help develop client commitment—an important next step in the sales process.

Getman holds leadership positions in several financial service professional organizations and is a frequent speaker at national meetings on advanced insurance topics. She currently chairs the estate section for the Society of Financial Service Professionals and has previously served on its national board of directors. She is a member of the Association of Advanced Life Underwriting, Business Insurance and Estate Planning Committee, and the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils, where she received the “distinguished” honor in 2010 for her contributions to the field of estate planning.

Pan-American Life

Pan-American Life Insurance Company began celebrating its 100th anniversary in March. The year-long anniversary celebration—A Century of Promises Kept—will be a tribute to all who have contributed to the success of the company.

Festivities began with a ceremonial employee and retiree event in late March at the InterContinental Hotel, and an anniversary gala scheduled for April 10, which will take place at the Roosevelt Hotel, featuring a tribute from the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. At the gala, Pan-American Life will host a number of honored guests, including 380 international delegates.

Pan-American Life Insurance Group is a provider of insurance and financial services assisting nearly half a million customers throughout the Americas; employing more than 800 worldwide; and providing products in 47 states, the District of Columbia (DC) and Puerto Rico. Member companies offer individual and group insurance throughout Latin America, with branches and affiliates in Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Puerto Rico and the Cayman Islands.

Pan-American’s heritage originated at sea during the transportation of produce to the United States from Central and South America. It was there that Crawford H. Ellis, a native of New Orleans, got to know the people and cultures of those countries—and there that he realized the need for insurance protection for both the workers and merchants of those goods.

Ellis began his career as a bookkeeper with the United Fruit Company in New Orleans and, by the age of 26, was responsible for more than 25 ships that brought fruit into that city’s port. In 1911, he joined forces with Dr. Edward G. Simmons, an expert in life insurance; Dr. Marion Souchon, a renowned surgeon and physician; and Eugene J. McGivney, a corporate lawyer, to create a life insurance company that served the needs of Central and South America, as well as the United States. In March 1912, Pan-American Life issued its first life insurance policy.

Today, Pan-American Life Insurance Group is a strong, established company with more than $2.2 billion in total assets and $521 million in GAAP equity. With the direction of Chairman, President and CEO José S. Suquet, who in 2004 became the first Hispanic to lead the company, Pan-American Life has been restructured to refocus on its core business in Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market.