Voluntary Benefits. Value of Voluntary Benefits and Best Practices for Implementation. February 24, 2015

Transcription

1 Voluntary Benefits Value of Voluntary Benefits and Best Practices for Implementation February 24, 2015

2 What are Voluntary Benefits? Voluntary Benefits are benefits that are offered through an employer but, paid for by employees through payroll deduction Voluntary products help provide health and income protection while filling gaps in traditional / core benefit offerings Voluntary plans provide employees with choice and flexibility to elect the voluntary plans which best fit their own personal situation - Some voluntary plans pay cash benefits directly to employees to cover living expenses, lost wages, copayments and deductibles - Other benefits include disability insurance, life insurance, vision insurance, dental insurance, and other lifestyle programs 2

3 Enrollment Partner Model The voluntary market has matured to include intermediary enrollment specialists that provide education and enrollment support of a Plan Sponsor s benefit platform Using a specialized voluntary enrollment model: - Provides better one on one education - Enhances the transaction for the employee and the employer - Allows for the integration of more than one carrier, which enables the plan of benefit to merge best in class products from various companies - Generally, single payroll box deduction capabilities - Helps in the distribution of the products for employers with a large footprint 3

4 Partnership with Winston Benefits Conner Strong & Buckelew has developed a strategic partnership with Winston Benefits (Winston) for integrated voluntary benefits delivery. Winston is a privately held specialty benefits organization that specializes in voluntary benefits and administration. Founded in 1987 and privately held, Winston is the preferred partner for Conner Strong & Buckelew clients. The partnership creates seamless integration and a capacity to leverage best in class voluntary markets versus being carrier dependent. 4

5 How Voluntary Benefits Work Voluntary fixed benefits plans pay a fixed cash benefit for covered medical services directly to the member Hospital insurance plans provide basic coverage to help you manage medical or daily living costs associated with an unexpected hospitalization Critical illness coverage pays lump-sum benefits directly to the insured at the time a covered illness is diagnosed Accident coverage can pay lump-sum benefits to existing medical coverage Dental and Vision insurance plans pay for qualified family dental and eye care expenses Life and Disability insurance plans help protect your income, and your family's financial future 5

6 Why Offer Voluntary Benefits? Employer Compliment and enrich the core benefit strategy, - Combat year over year cost increases, provide solutions to fill gaps Workforce demographics needs vary based on age, gender, culture Employers need to offer leading edge programs and services in order to compete to attract and retain talent PPACA Employee Ability to provide and protect family members Convenience employers do the leg work and deliver array of benefits to employees from which employees select based on their needs Stronger plan features, lower rates and benefit design than individual policies Payroll deduction convenience 6

7 Why Employers Should Offer Voluntary benefits? 7

8 Why Employees Want Voluntary Benefits 8

9 What Are the Most Popular Voluntary Products? Top five selling Voluntary Products Life Insurance: 28% Disability: 21% Dental: 13% Accident Insurance: 12% Hospital Indemnity/ Supplemental Medical: 8% Other Source: Eastbridge

10 Impact Health Care Reform and Consumerism The adoption of consumerdirected health plans (CDHP) continues to increase among large employers. In 2015, 81% of employers will offer at least one CDHP, up from 72% in 2014 In addition, the percentage of employers who will only offer CDHPs to their employees will increase from 22% to 32% in 2015 Solution: Consider offering gap insurance / hospital indemnity insurance as means to offset high deductible 10% 53% 2010 (N=68) Figure 19. Availability of CDHPs Among Employers Full Replacement 20% 41% 2011 (N=69) 17% 19% 22% 32% 56% 54% 50% 49% 2012 (N=75) 2013 (N=78) As an Option (N=108) (N=136) 10

11 Voluntary Benefits Fast Facts Met Life s 12 th Annual U.S. Employee Benefits Trend Study (released 2014) Employees value benefit choice - 64% of employees (up from 54% in 2012) are interested in having their employer provide a wider array of voluntary benefits that they can choose to purchase - 60% (up from 51% in 2012) are willing to bear more of the cost of their benefits in order to have the choice of benefits that meet their needs - 40% are looking for employer to help achieve financial security through employee benefits (up from 29% in 2012) According to research by Council for Disability Awareness, the United States Social Security Administration, the Consumer Federation of America, the American Payroll Association, and the U.S. Census Bureau: - 60% of adult Americans have no money set aside for emergencies - 71% of Americans say they would have trouble paying their bills if their next paycheck were delayed for as little as a week - 65% of Americans could not cover normal living expenses for a year without their employment income; 38% couldn t even last 3 months 11

12 Voluntary Benefits Fast Facts National Safety Council - A fatality occurs every 5 minutes, and a disability occurs every 1.5 seconds - A disabling condition occurs every 4 seconds in the home - Medical expenses cost Americans an estimated $1 billion in 2007 According to the Social Security Administration, 1 in 4 of today s 20-yearolds will become disabled before they retire 12

13 Implementing a Successful Voluntary Benefits Program

14 Voluntary Benefits Must Become Part of Your Long Term Strategy Conner Strong & Buckelew manages the complete Voluntary process Voluntary Benefits strategy success requires keen understanding of core benefits, company needs, ability to support, maintain and update the VB program over a long period 3-Part Process for a successful voluntary program includes: Product Process Support - Conduct Gap Analysis - Create Multi- Year Strategy - Execute Product RFP - Select best in class products - Integrate Communication - Support Workplace Access - Offer Payroll Deduction - Ongoing Customer Service needs - Premium Billing and Reconciliation 14

15 Voluntary Benefits Strategy Elements Consult Communicate Enroll Administer Support Evaluate, Design, Market and Implement Voluntary Benefit Program Empower Better Benefit Decisions with Intelligent Communications Assist Decision Making with Engaged Enrollment Services Say Goodbye to Administrivia with Benefit Administration Outsourcing Save Money and Time through Dedicated Client Management 15

16 Consult Ingredients to Success Design a product portfolio with a Multi-Year Strategy in mind - Outline a multi-year plan consistent with overall benefit strategy - Design a voluntary portfolio with the employees in mind - Seek the best products and vendors through the RFP process - Offer products that fill needs and gaps / Consider conducting an employee survey Accident Hospital Indemnity Cancer Critical Illness Short Term Disability Health Protection Financial Protection Life Insurance Long Term Care Long Term Disability Medicare Supplemental Plans Financial wellness Lifestyle and Personal Balance Auto & Homeowners Insurance Pet, Legal & Identity Theft Insurance Employee Purchase Programs, Discount programs 16

17 Consult Understanding the Marketplace Objective Role - Our objective is to leverage the multitude of platforms and solutions that best align with the client s culture, benefit objectives and goals in the area of voluntary offerings - Conner Strong & Buckelew s role is to utilize our market expertise and best in class partners that help us deliver world-class voluntary solutions in a changing landscape Solutions - Customized to needs of each employer Supplemental benefits - Available as a buy-up or linked to existing group benefits contract - Policy generally convertible or had limited portability - Examples: Term Life & buy-up disability Worksite benefits - Offered on a stand alone basis - Typically owned by employee - Policy if portable - Examples: Critical illness, accident and permanent life insurance Convenience / lifestyle benefits - Provided on discounted basis - Examples: auto & homeowners, ID Theft, Pre-paid legal 17

18 Communicate Engagement & Communication 18

19 Communicate Communicating your Benefit Programs Materials can be designed to help educate employees to understand the different voluntary benefits offered and make informed decisions Communication methods may include: Print Web Video Interactive technologies 19

20 Enroll Enrolling your Benefit Programs Enrollment is an extension of communication campaign Generational, educational and cultural differences often dictate need for multiple enrollment options to drive participation - Demographic understanding - Convenient Enrollment Options Drive engagement and enrollment Click Call Connect 20

21 Enroll Enrolling your Benefit Programs Professionally Trained, Deeply Experienced When Conner Strong & Buckelew partners with Winston Benefits on a robust voluntary benefits program, their enrollment team has provided Engaged Enrollment solutions for more than 25 years. Helping millions of employees better understand, appreciate and select their benefit programs, Winston annually contracts with over 200 benefit counselors. Their benefit counselors are: Licensed Insurance Professionals Have 8 years or more of enrollment experience Are paid on a W-2 basis only, ALWAYS Are trained on your benefits by us and you Must pass company certification and background checks before deployment Can return to clients year after year 21

22 Enroll Enrolling your Benefit Programs Call Center Solutions should be: Staffed by licensed, professionally trained counselors using; Designated Representative Model Multi-Lingual - Support multiple languages natively and hundreds more via Language Line Powered by world class technology Dedicated Toll Free Access All Calls Recorded 22

23 Enroll Enrolling your Benefit Programs Technology and connectivity matter - Enrollment & Benefits Administration platforms vary - Voluntary enrollment platform must be able to adapt and transition to client s preferred process including: Winston Payroll/ERP 3 rd Party 23

24 Administer Vendor Administration with BenefitInsite One System in the Center of your Benefits When engaged, Winston Benefits will manage your vendors, elections and deductions all from one place, one technology. Together with our reporting, billing and premium accounting services you can sit back and relax while we do the work. Here s how: 1) We build out your benefits 2) We connect with your vendors 3) Your employees choose their coverage 4) We send out data 5) We validate data 6) You get reporting 2 Census 3 Your Employees Benefit Choices 4 Enrollment Your Payroll/HRIS 1 Rules, Rates, Eligibility Your Vendors Enrollment 4 6 Reporting Reconciliation Audit Validate 5 Seamless integration with multiple vendors Say Goodbye to Administrivia! 24

25 Administer - ACA Compliance ACA Compliance Keep Up With Regulatory Requirements The regulations and reporting requirements driven by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are complex and confusing. Winston Benefits enrollment and Administration system can manage ACA reporting: - Code Section 6055/56 - PCORI - IRS Form Transitional Reinsurance Reporting Hours Tracking for Part Time and Variable Hour Employees Variable hour employee tracking hours, eligibility and enrollment Supported natively within the application, Hours Tracking Express makes tracking and compliance easy. 25

26 Support Support Team Conner Strong & Buckelew consulting team supports the Plan Sponsor throughout the voluntary benefits process - Vendor and product evaluation, selection, implementation, enrollment and ongoing management 26

27 Robust Market Solutions and Partners The voluntary market is teeming with new and creative products - The markets are more innovative than ever and with revenue and premium pressures and the challenges posed with HC Reform, carriers are investing on voluntary products and services as a new distribution source - Traditional markets are getting better and new players are emerging - Competition breeds better results and better cost Conner Strong & Buckelew has vetted the major and up and coming voluntary players and has unfettered access to work with the right carriers to marry their capabilities for the client We work direct with all carriers or where appropriate may engage our enrollment partner, Winston Benefits 27

28 Questions & Answers 28