Editorial Staff

The value of cyberspace during open enrollment is at least on equal footing with face time, suggest two recent unpublished surveys of employees and carriers that sell voluntary benefit plans.

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:

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.

Just 39% of single and never-married employees have life insurance compared to 61% of all 2,071 working Americans responding to a recent online Harris Interactive survey for the Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company.

Employers with dental or vision benefits have gritted teeth and winced about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s impact on such coverage, but a recent Segal Co. analysis seeks to clear up any confusion about compliance.

Lists of New Year’s resolutions are unavoidable during this time of year – both in print and across the blogosphere. The same can be said about industry forecasts. One such prognostication that will pique the interest voluntary benefit plan proponents involves a bullish outlook on critical-illness insurance (CII) for insurance brokers in 2011.

Digital Insurance Inc., which serves small and midsize companies, recently named Wayne Mertel vice president of voluntary solutions.

In a fresh reminder that more change is coming to an uncertain long-term care insurance market, MetLife will no longer sell new such policies and discontinue new enrollments into existing group and multi-life LTC plans.

Is bare-bones health insurance coverage better than no coverage at companies that cannot afford to offer comprehensive benefits?

Voluntary benefits are seen as a palatable alternative to no employer-paid coverage or more costly policies in the individual insurance market, suggests the first in a series of research briefs based on Prudential Financial Inc.’s fifth annual study of employee benefits.

Travel accident insurance is seen as an inexpensive and valuable employee benefit tool for recruiting and retaining managers and executives who travel within the U.S. or abroad – particularly in a climate marked by international terrorism.

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.