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The Unraveling of the Affordable Care Act

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Over the past few months, I have had the privilege of speaking about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to groups of individuals and business owners. If I could describe the overwhelming response to ACA in one word, it would be total confusion. At present, there’s a lot of talk about the failure of technology in the enrollment process. True, the …

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Help Your Clients Avoid a Wellness Visit From Hell

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Being in the insurance industry and helping clients understand and implement wellness programs, I was enthusiastic when my husband’s company rolled out requirements for a new wellness program. While the intentions were good, it became very evident that the process had not been well thought out—at least not for the spouses and dependents required to participate for premium discounts. Notification …

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The DI Window of Opportunity

The DI Window of Opportunity

If you’ve shied away from selling disability income, now is a good time to reconsider. Marketplace trends point towards new and improved opportunities to make disability income sales a steady and lucrative source of income for the savvy producer. And, developments within the DI industry are resulting in better support than ever for garnering these sales. Sales to Boomers Are …

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What is a Summary Plan Description Under the Affordable Care Act?

What is a Summary Plan Description under ACA?

I recently had the “privilege” of reading a Department of Labor (DOL) employee benefit audit letter addressed to a business with under 50 employees. The first item listed for submission to the auditor was the Summary Plan Description (SPD). What is an SPD? It is a federally required document that explains to employees their plan benefits, claim review procedures and …

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Supplemental Suitability

Supplemental Suitability

I own a business and have a question for all the health insurance agents out there: Where are the agents focusing on suitability requirements for worksite supplemental benefits? Employer groups are not one-size-fits-all when it comes to their employees, and assuming so may insure some of my employees well, but leave others majorly exposed. When a group like mine is …

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Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

The Prudential Life Insurance Company of America, known in their commercials as the one with the Rock of Gibraltar symbol, has just announced it will discontinue the sale of long-term care insurance (LTC). Obviously, the product has proven to be a disappointment for many companies in the life insurance business, as Prudential is just the latest of many carriers to …

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The Affordable Care Act: Impact on Individuals & Businesses

This article is about the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which I will refer to as the “Act” or “ACA” for the sake of brevity. My intent is to present not only the perspective of providers and insurance companies, but also to look at the issues from the standpoint of individuals and businesses. Let’s discuss how …

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Facebook 101 for Dental Brokers

Why Should I Use Facebook for My Business? Many of your clients already use Facebook to interact, and you don’t want to miss out on being in on those conversations! Your Facebook Page can help you: Build credibility by letting customers give testimonials. Create customer engagement. Gain lead generation. Enjoy immediate customer contact. Participate in customer service. Build relationships. How …

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Not Your Father’s Long Term Care Insurance Anymore!

My, how things change. Probably no insurance product has gone through more changes and variations than long term care insurance (LTCi). Clients used to routinely buy lifetime coverage with a 5% compound cost-of-living rider and limited pay policies were all the rage, but today that landscape has changed. Most policies sold have a benefit period of 3 to 5 years …

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Life and A&H Agents: How to Add P&C Products without Being Licensed

There are several truisms when it comes to marketing insurance products to individuals. For example, it is very unusual for an insurance agent to offer products outside of his or her specialty. Life and A&H (Accident and Health) agents usually won’t offer P&C (Property and Casualty) products and P&C agents feel the same way about marketing life products. Agents stick …

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