Voluntary

There may be a slightly silver lining to the murky clouds of health care reform: ancillary benefits, which often include voluntary benefits, are expected to grow substantially in the coming years. Advisers may do well to leverage these offerings with clients, says EBA Blogger and UBA CEO Thom Mangan.

A cap that President Barack Obama has proposed on the size of tax-advantaged retirement accounts is seen as potentially pushing savers to another product that limits payments to the government: life insurance.

In a move to boost its voluntary business, Sun Life partners with the NBA, offering employers and brokers the chance to mingle with players at charity events.

Tom Rieskse Jr. offers employers advice about what to look for when considering one of the newer multilife long-term care insurance offerings.

MetLife poll reveals employers view voluntary legal plans as easy to handle and can improve employee satisfaction.

Two new insurance products aim to raise employee awareness about retirement planning and disability.

The efforts of Maurice Evans, director of HR at Integral Group, lead to higher enrollment in the company’s voluntary vision plan.

In recent years, voluntary benefits have risen from a nice-to-have for employees to something that is quickly becoming crucial. Doug Mantz looks back at the evolution of voluntary benefits through the lens of one long-time client.

“Now is the time to buy before gender rating kicks in and before the best inflation option [5%, compounded for life] becomes unaffordable or goes away,” says one expert.

The emerging private HIX model for active employee populations will learn valuable lessons about how this approach has been applied to the retiree marketplace in recent years. One issue worth closer examination involves the prospect of hosting an off-cycle benefits enrollment.