Life insurance

Cost misconceptions keep them from buying policies, which provides educational opportunities for plan sponsors, says Web Benefit Design’s Jessica Campbell.

Cost misperceptions keep them from buying policies, which provides an opportunity for advisers, says Web Benefit Design’s Jessica Campbell.

MetLife beat back a U.S. attempt to label it too big to fail, which would’ve put America’s biggest life insurer under tougher government scrutiny and forced it to put more money in reserves.

Employers and advisers expect the importance of supplemental benefits to grow, fueled in part by the changing demands of employees.

The majority of employers expect the importance of non-traditional benefits to grow over the next three to five years, fueled in part by the changing demands of employees.

Part of a global consolidation trend, these mergers are aimed at growing revenue and increasing customers.

Revealed in descending order, the listing is based on Form 5500 Schedule A reporting data on premiums as of Dec. 31, 2015.

Employee Benefit Adviser interviews three senior life insurance executives on the role of advisers and how they see the market shifting in 2016 and beyond

During annual open enrollment, the focus of most people’s attention is squarely on health insurance coverage, and yet the season is an ideal time to consider other benefit elections, too.

Commentary: Many employers are struggling to get employees to enroll in voluntary programs; busy workers often don’t take the time to understand what’s being offered.

Sun Life Financial’s acquisition of the employee benefits unit of Assurant is just the latest move in the insurer’s growth strategy for the U.S. market.

Many individuals think coverage is too expensive or unnecessary in certain stages of life — that’s why advisers need to emphasize the true cost of a policy and help clients think about their future when discussing life insurance.

As another insurer megamerger takes place, how will employer health plans fare with a shrinking field of providers?

Commentary: Hispanics comprise almost 17% of today’s U.S. population. This demographic represents the most significant population trend in Americans under 65 in the next 20 years. This isn't just a population trend, your sales depend on recognizing the cultural shift happening underneath your feet.

Consolidation in the health insurance industry holds both positives and negatives for employer-sponsored health plans, but employers shouldn’t expect to see any major savings resulting from the Aetna-Humana merger until at least 2017, say industry experts.

Shares of health insurers from Cigna to Aetna surged on speculation that the industry is heading for a round of mergers to boost profits.

Applying the lens of behavioral economics to benefits choices helps employers understand why employees choose or don’t choose certain voluntary benefits.

Commentary: The guidelines establish a uniform methodology that must be followed in determining the maximum annual rate of index-based interest that can be used to calculate policy values in indexed universal life illustrations. The NAIC is set to vote on the issue next week.

Data suggest a strong correlation between an employee’s overall sense of confidence in the future and the benefits they participate in at work – particularly non-medical benefits such as life insurance, accident insurance and critical illness insurance.

Employees have their eyes set on vision insurance, as sales have increased close to 25% since 2013 and are leading the pack in worksite voluntary sales growth.