Voluntary

Standard Insurance Company, whose group product line includes disability, life, AD&D, dental and vision coverage, now offers the Protector Platinum individual disability income insurance plan in 20 states.

A recent Aflac survey of 1,000 working Americans suggests there will be increased opportunities for brokers and advisers to sell voluntary dental plans, particularly among those between the ages of 35 and 54 in a post-health care reform market.

What happens when a division of the nation’s second-largest payroll company teams up with the creator of an online benefits education and enrollment platform for group insurance products in the voluntary marketplace?

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act begins to take effect on Jan. 1, 2011. Under the CLASS Act, which is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a public insurance option offering employees voluntary long-term care insurance will be an option for employees to consider.

The employee benefits market in Southeast Michigan has historically been heavily union-oriented. As a result, the rich benefit packages had little need for voluntary coverage offerings such as hospital indemnity plans.

Finger Lakes Fire & Casualty, a policyholder owned company represented by about 120 independent agents, will now offer LifeStages identity protection services through Identity Theft 911, a leading provider of identity management and data-breach services.

Their respective names are synonymous with reaching new heights, which is exactly what Ascension Insurance, Inc. hopes to do in the employee benefits marketplace following its recent acquisition of Summit America Insurance.

Unum has unbundled the features of its individual disability insurance so that employers have more flexibility to select options for employees who are not fully protected by their group disability plans.

Proponents of mini-med plans were waiting to exhale until federal regulators showed a willingness to stave off the effect that a key provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would have on these voluntary benefits for employees seeking affordable, baseline health insurance coverage.

Women bear the brunt of long-term care insurance cost burdens, according to Lisa Wendt, president and CEO of LifeSecure Insurance Company, which provides LTC and post-hospital recovery insurance coverage.