Studies have shown that more Americans purchase life insurance through their employers than they do as individuals as has traditionally been the case for generations. This has placed a much bigger onus on employers and agents to answer this demand with the very best in voluntary life contracts and carriers.
What are the very best voluntary life benefits you sell? The answer is easy, they must include:
1. The ability to port or convert the life insurance if/when employment terminates (for whatever reason)
2. Limited benefit reductions as a member ages
3. Generous guarantee issue amounts
4. The ability to buy up each year at open enrollment
5. A competitive price
I find there are times the very best of our voluntary life contracts become an issue. Employees don't always understand the benefit they thought they had purchased has reduced 35% to 50% just as it has increased significantly in premium.
This Term to 100 product offers employees the chance to purchase true long term protection they can rely on well into retirement.
I have admitted many times before that I am a work in progress when it comes to critical illness and accident policies. Frankly, there was a time in my career when I thought they were a rip off.
The past few years, I have seen the power of the pay out of critical illness and how it can really help someone in the time of need. I have seen the power of the revenue and what agents have done to supplement enrollment services for their clients. And finally I have seen the 'stickiness' of clients to their agents who consult from a holistic approach in all facets of a benefits plan.
If you are someone who can't get past the idea that these products are an unnecessary expense to the working folks struggling to pay their employee contribution, the latest trend study from MetLife is a great read. The fact of the matter is this--you may feel those products aren't necessary but employees do not agree. Study after study reveals that employees do indeed crave those benefits and agents and employers will do well to deliver these benefits in an organized and structured environment.
Here is a link to the article and here is a brief recap. I hope you find it useful!
Benefit Profiles Inc is dedicated to offering outstanding solutions for agents and I'm proud to report we've found a new one--telemedicine.
Telemedicine has been most sold through TPA's in the jumbo group space or bundled with discount programs direct to consumers in voluntary or individual enrollment platforms. It has really remained on the fringe of the benefits spectrum however til just recently.
Ultimately it's a way to access real, board-certified, American (even Michigan) doctors over the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The most common ways we see the service is through a phone consultation about typical items addressed in the PCP or urgent care center. However members do consult through the web app using Facetime or Skype or they even consult over a secure email system.
The real key though that excites employees is the doctors can prescribe medications like antibiotics, low grade pain killers or even emergency fills for a maintenance medication. Employers like it because they can see real data about utilization and how many office, urgent care and emergency room visits they are eliminating from their experience.
I am a member and the last time I used the service I sent an email through my web login describing my condition an indicated I wanted to talk to a doctor. My phone rang, I talked to a Michigan-based doc for ten minutes who diagnosed my issue then sent a script to my pharmacy. The entire transaction took me fifteen minutes.
The service through Benefit Profiles is Teladoc (see the video), the nation's leader in telemedicine. It has been around the longest and has the most members. The cost for this service is $3.50 PEPM for groups below 500 and $3.00 PEPM for groups above 500. For this rate, members and their families can access doctors 24/7 with no extra copayments!
I think you'll agree that with the rapidly changing plan designs driven by cost of medical and the ACA, a value packed PEPM that can positively affect a group's actual claims experience but also the experience of the members to their benefit package is indeed a solid solution. I'd love to talk more about this and the several other ideas we have about structuring a holistic approach to employee benefits. Please don't hesitate to contact me to learn more!
Check out this very good article from BenefitsPro magazine. You'll notice the article highlights a telemedicine firm out of Chicago that sells the service fro $6.00 PEPM. That seems to be a common price across the market.
Our BPI webpage on telemedicine features marketing items and flyers regarding the benefit.
This video from Teladoc outlines the 5 reasons for employers to consider the benefit:
