Product Trends/Success Stories

• Guardian fits voluntary benefits into small-market segment

  In the face of health care volatility and economic uncertainty, small and midsize business owners have expressed concerns about managing their employee benefits programs. According to a 2007 Guardian Life study, Benefits & Behavior, The Voice of American Business Owners and Benefit Decision Makers Today, they cited controlling medical costs as their most serious business challenge.

• Research spotlights need for guidance, retiree health and wellness incentives

  New industry research suggests a significant opportunity awaits brokers and advisers to help the employees of their clients understand health plan saving vehicles, group medical coverage terms and ways to better anticipate health care needs in retirement. They also could play a pivotal role encouraging the use of incentives to boost participation in wellness programs and maintain healthy lifestyles.

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• MetLife research suggests benefits innovation to help smaller firms compete for talent

  Since large employers can use economies of scale to offer generous benefits, the pressure is on brokers and advisers to suggest that their smaller-market clients be as innovative as possible when competing for talent.

• MetLife research offers Rx for improving open enrollment, targeting life stages

  With summer just around the corner, now is as good a time as any for brokers and advisers to heed the warning of leading industry research as they suggest ways in which employers can improve the experience of their workers during the coming open-enrollment season.

• Disability Insurance Awareness Month casts spotlight on why coverage is critical

  Employers, brokers and insurance carriers will have their hands full in May, which is now known for yielding much more than flowers from April showers thanks to its designation as Disability Insurance Awareness Month (DIAM) for the past two years.

• Key to voluntary benefits success: enrollment and post-enrollment support

  One of the biggest obstacles to a successful voluntary benefits offering is meeting a minimum employee participation requirement. If not enough employees sign up, then there's no plan. That's why enrollment and post-enrollment support are so critical to a program's success.

• Guardian emerging as pioneer of innovative dental benefits coverage

  For half a century, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America has sought to strike a delicate balance on providing the right group dental insurance at the right price point that satisfies several key stakeholders. The challenge is allowing employers and benefit brokers to achieve their business imperatives while also recognizing that coverage decisions are intensely personal and will vary from one consumer to the next.

• BrokerSuite offers turnkey solution for benefits enrollment in small, midsize market

  David Koch, CEO and founder of Two River Benefits Consultants, LLC, used to only focus on benefits and knew in his heart of hearts that a full-service administration system would be well-received by clients.

• A broker's role: Help employers make the most of their benefit plans

  Brokers have a unique opportunity in today's market to serve their employer clients by helping them maximize the potential of employee benefit plans, particularly when it comes to worker health and wellness.

• 'Person-centric' approach to health management emerging as key to behavior modification

  A simple truth lies at the heart of Corporate America's struggle to rein in health care costs: Employees are consuming more health care than before.

• MetLife benefit trends study presents educational opportunity as more financial assistance sought

  MetLife's sixth annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends suggests a call to action among employers, insurance brokers and carriers in terms of providing enough personalized benefits information that's accessible, understandable and actionable.

• Establishing link between oral, physical health represents growth opportunity for brokers

  C. Everett Koop, the U.S. Surgeon General under President Ronald Reagan, once noted: "you're not healthy without good oral health." Both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health have since advanced this message.

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• Check out our new benefits blog!

  We are launching a new blog at the Benefits Group called the "Daily Diversion," emloyeebenefitnews.blogspot.com. We're also closing out EBA's Adviser of the Year contest and the "Best" Group Vision Rep contest.

• Separating self-funding fact from fiction

  Fifty-five percent of the employers in the United States with more than 200 employees partially or completely self-fund their health plans. Yet despite the prevalence of self-insured plans, there is still misinformation about them.

• DOL clarifies guidance on adviser compensation

  The Department of Labor recently released guidance, in a question-and-answer format, that will help advisers stay compliant when it comes to client disclosure. The DOL's clarification of the 2009 Form 5500 Schedule C helps employers and service providers comply with the requirements for reporting fees and compensation.