Editorial Staff

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.

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 IRS released final guidance Dec. 2 for small employers eligible to claim the new small business health care tax credit for the 2010 tax year — including a the one-page form small employers will use to claim the credit for the 2010 tax year.

Two efforts to repeal PPACA’s 1099 filing requirement failed in the U.S. Senate on Monday. Under that requirement, approximately 40 million businesses would have to file a Form 1099 for every vendor that sells them more than $600 in goods.

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.