Voluntary

A unit of brokerage powerhouse Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. waded deeper into the worksite market with one of eight acquisitions made since November 2009 to build a national platform that serves the employee benefits needs of middle-market companies.

Mutual of Omaha recently brought more than a century of disability income insurance market know-how to a new product offering in this area.

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America’s new multi-coverage voluntary package features comprehensive benefits at a single rate that emphasizes affordability and enrollment simplicity.

Shopping for identity theft protection, a product that is gaining traction in the worksite market, is no easy feat. But a new Web site now makes it easy to compare half a dozen of the nascent industry’s leading service providers that are aggressively fighting this growing crime wave.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is now offering its new Dental Prime and Complete programs on both a voluntary and employer-paid basis with three core plan designs to 40,000 small businesses and 79 chambers of commerce throughout Connecticut.

In a sign of the times, the 38 independent provider law firms associated with Pre-Paid Legal Services responded to more than 79,000 requests to handle debt-collection issues in the first half of 2010 – accounting for 7% of the 1.1 million overall requests for assistance during that timeframe.

Health care providers, attorneys and other service providers can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Several leading service providers across the worksite-market landscape, hoping the economy heads northbound, are poised to reach higher ground in 2011. Consider a few of the most recent developments:

Anecdotal data from new research released by the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. (NCCI) confirms that work-related injuries are far more costly if the injured worker is obese.

WageWorks Inc., which offers consumer-directed benefits solutions, recently acquired the tax-favored and benefits continuation administration business of Fringe Benefits Management Company (FBMC), which offers customized voluntary and core benefit products primarily in the public-sector market.