The Hartford adopts producer education as a differentiator in the US disability insurance market

After a successful launch, an innovative education programme by US
insurer The Hartford aimed at training producers and account
managers in group disability income insurance products is set to go
nationwide.

The Hartford’s carrier-neutral Vault programme teaches the elements
of group disability income insurance products, such as contracts,
underwriting, pricing and risk management. Students who complete
the course can take an exam leading to insurance research company
The National Underwriter Company’s group benefits disability
specialist designation.

After launching the Vault programme in 2005 and expanding the
number of sessions at its headquarters in 2006, the insurer decided
to expand the Vault to six cities in 2007. The Hartford sees the
Vault as a way to differentiate itself in the marketplace, and get
its brand in front of a wider audience, allowing it, said The
Hartford, “to demonstrate our expertise with employers and
producers who are looking to do group disability income insurance
or are looking for a carrier to place business through”.

The seminars cover group short- and long-term disability income
insurance contracts, benefits, underwriting and pricing. The course
provides instruction on how to identify trends affecting clients’
productivity and risk profile, and develop appropriate solutions
and plan designs. Producers also learn how to navigate contract
language, claims and service considerations and how to diagnose and
service clients’ group disability needs and goals.

The Hartford has invested a great deal of time and effort in the
classes, which are led by instructors with more than 80 combined
years of group benefits experience. So far, more than 150
professionals have graduated from The Hartford’s Vault
programme.

The Vault was created in response to benefits professionals’ desire
for training on disability insurance – a nuanced income protection
product that is sometimes referred to as an ancillary coverage
compared to group medical insurance.

Graduates have praised the programme. “I left the programme with an
even higher degree of confidence in my ability to assist my clients
and motivation to help them solve a tremendous need that they
should be concerned about,” said Tony Bruns, employee benefits
executive with broker Southwest Business in San Antonio. “The
programme wasn’t an advertisement or sales pitch. It was purely
educational and absolutely hit the target.”

The Hartford is not alone in courting the expanding group
disability market. The US’s leading group disability provider,
MetLife, entered into a marketing agreement with Nationwide Better
Health, a unit of Nationwide Mutual Insurance, that links group
disability coverage with an integrated absence management solution
for administering and reporting on employee absences.

Employers are able to track planned and unplanned absences due to
other causes as well, such as company-sponsored leaves, jury duty,
military leaves and/or personal and vacation days – all through one
point of administration and one contract with MetLife. This absence
management solution provides real-time information, tracking and
reporting, presenting benefits not only for the employee, but also
easing the burden on the employer and helping to present it with a
clearer picture of its total absence situation and costs.

Also seeing promise in the supplemental market are broker Assurant
Employee Benefits and Jefferson Pilot Financial Life Insurance,
which ranks in the second tier of disability insurers, based on
premium. Assurant’s supplemental sales are in dental, life and
disability, in order of sales. Jefferson Pilot’s new product is
Paycheck Pius, which combines long-term disability, short-term
disability, life and accidental death and dismemberment in one
product.

Group disability –- once a silo product sold and administered as a
stand-alone offering – is increasingly being marketed as part of a
comprehensive human resource tool. The idea is that by working in
tandem, insurers will be able to provide employers with better
solutions when it comes to effectively managing and utilising their
absence information and to provide their employees with health,
medical and disease management services as they work to restore
their health and return to work.

That’s especially important for smaller companies, which often lack
coverage. While practically all large companies – those with at
least 5,000 workers – offer disability coverage, fewer than half of
companies with 100 workers or fewer do, according to trade
organisation LIMRA International. That’s a huge opportunity, and
one that the Vault and similar programmes hope to capture.