Friday, June 28, 2013

A Message Regarding Companion Life and the MI Medicaid Tax Assessment

To all Companion Life Agents and Brokers in Michigan:

As you are aware, effective January 1, 2012, the Legislature of the State of Michigan passed a 1% health claims tax imposed on all health insurance claims incurred by Michigan residents.  This includes all vision and dental insurance claims.  Insurance carriers were permitted to collect this tax directly from their insured employer groups.  Companion Life Insurance Company has been paying this tax each quarter since its inception while we retooled our billing system to reflect this tax separately.  

Effective July, 2013, Companion Life has added the tax surcharge to all employer group billing notices in Michigan.  The bill will include a tax surcharge of 0.72% of dental premium and 0.74% of vision premium to estimate the 1% tax due to Michigan on claims.  Companion will then remit the tax to the state as required by Michigan law.  There will be no retroactive charge to your clients for January 2012 through June 2013 taxes paid.

A letter of explanation has been included in each group bill.  In addition, future proposals will reflect a footnote that explains that the State of Michigan surcharge is not included in coverage rates within the proposal.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact your Companion Life representative.

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Trescott N. Hinton, Jr.
President, Companion Life Insurance Company


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Timely Topics - Summer 2013

By Dominic Siciliano


After a crazy year, treat yourself to some European relaxation. Companion really takes care of you on these trips.  Let’s talk about getting you there!


Companion’s STD and Life are both unique for a variety of purposes.  The entry age freeze and complimentary AD&D on the STD is great.  In addition, it will replace worksite carriers’ STD as a takeover with pre-ex waived.


This is their annual benefit study in a nutshell.  I find it very powerful how employees versus employers comment regarding voluntary benefits.  This piece could be a compelling add to your proposals as you revise the way your groups look at employee benefits.


When I think MetLife, I think great value and this will prep program is not utilized enough by agents and groups.  Free face-to-face will preparation with a real, live attorney when employees purchase supplemental life!

Allstate’s small group Critical Illness

Guaranteed Issue down to five lives, in most instances; Aflac takeover with no pre-ex; one flat rate for all of Michigan.  This is a home run!

You Have a Friend in Us

By Dominic Siciliano

It’s been over a year since Agent Alliance closed and Benefit Profiles began.    We want to sincerely thank you for your business.  We would not be here if it weren’t for your support.

But boy, what a difference a year makes!  As I travel into your various agencies, I’m amazed by the amount of work that faces each one of you to ensure your clients appropriately navigate this next year of renewals.

We just want you to know that we are here for you.   We continue to work to gear up our service to make dealing with us smooth.  You may have noticed you are receiving emails from a new employee.  Jason Sissing has joined us to help with small quotes and employee adds and deletes.  In addition to Jason, we are actively seeking another person to help service your block.

Never hesitate to call us with anything we can do to take some pressure off your plate.  We look forward to being the Tonto to your Lone Ranger this fall and we’re excited to work through it together!

Friday, June 7, 2013

Thanks for a Great First Year!

By Dominic Siciliano

Those of you in Michigan may not believe this by the weather but it is June.  June is a special month for Lena and I here at Benefit Profiles Inc because it marks the one year anniversary of our new beginning.  June 1st is our official start date.

I wanted to take a second to say thank you to all of you agents, account managers, and agency staff who have been so supportive to Lena and I.  You have been patient with us as we recreated and revised who and what we were this past year.  We don't exist without our agent relationships and we live to hear your voices and interact with you on a daily basis, so thank you.

After a year, we've seen great growth.  You may have noticed our website is much more updated.  That is because we hired a marketing intern, Jason Sissing.  Jason is a student at GVSU and he is very talented.  I'm just hoping that when I'm old and gray he sees it in his heart to remember the 'little people' who helped him get to the top because that's where he's surely heading.

We continue to add carriers and services.  Allstate has been a great addition as they have introduced us to so many interesting and innovative firms who can bring brand new services and solutions to your clients.  Look for a call from me in the near future to discuss these opportunities.

But beyond the business and beyond saying thank you to you, our agents, I find it important to take moments to simply appreciate what we have.  After all we've been through in our industry and especially as former MA's, don't we still have to look around and say, 'Man, we have it pretty good." We see so many different groups in our various employee meetings and we see how so many people earn a living.  For my money, I wouldn't want to do anything else.  Yes, we're in a crossroads in our industry but that just means we have an opportunity to reinvent ourselves.  Look at us here at BPI, I think we can be somewhat of a poster child for that theme.

So on that note, I wanted to share two videos with you today to make you smile.  The first is the recent Pure Michigan ad that will be running nationwide to a variety of states.  It features my hometown, Grand Rapids, MI and it makes me proud.



The second is a Youtube video my daughter's second grade class put together.  Find it here!
This makes me smile.  My little Natalie was two days old when I walked into Priority Health on my first day in the insurance industry.  Now, she's eight and bouncing around happily with her classmates.  Needless to say, we're both doing just fine.  Couldn't have been possible without you.

Cheers!

Dominic