Be Their Hero!

Having spent the first half of this year on Disability products in both the personal and business realm, it’s safe to say we are passionate about income and business protection!

For those that are business owners and/or selling to the business community, let’s now talk Group Short and Long Term Disability.

Why Group STD and LTD?

• Providing these benefits helps employers protect a portion of their employees’ income (and their own income) should they become too sick or injured to work.
• Offering benefits sets a business apart from other employers; it makes the company more attractive to quality talent, aids in employee retention rates, and are a way of saying thank you … we value you!
• The plans are Guaranteed Issue regardless of employees’ health and group size!
• Employers can include themselves in the plan to supplement their own individual protection.
• Plans can be customized to be 100% Employer paid, 100% Employee paid (Voluntary), or a combination of both.
• The portion a business pays for this insurance is considered a business expense and is tax-deductible.

Our Process

• All we need is a census that includes gender, salary, occupation, and home zip code of each employee.
• If the group has a plan in place, we need the current benefit summary in order to match benefits at a lower cost, or provide a better plan at the same cost.
• We send a request for proposal (RFP) to as many of the top carriers in the country as possible.
• We analyze all quotes based on cost, volume, and definitions (the latter being the keystone of our agency).
• We create an easy to follow spreadsheet (including notes for the broker or employer allowing us to make the best and most knowledgeable recommendations).
• When necessary we will go back to the carriers and negotiate better plans and/or rates to best fit the client’s needs.

As experts in the field of employee benefits and disability insurance we can support you whether you are a broker or employer.  If you are an employee and your company doesn’t offer benefits, we will be happy to start the conversation!

At Insurance Specialties Inc., we are here to help you design and implement the most comprehensive and competitive plan(s) based on the carrier strength, occupation, health, and goal(s) of your client.

 

It is our advanced knowledge and understanding that drives us forward.  Let us share our expertise with you!

Who doesn’t love a guarantee?: May Broker Newsletter

Who loves exciting developments in the income protection arena? We do! And this month we’re talking about Guaranteed Standard Issue (GSI).

As many of you may already know, a few top tier carriers offer high quality disability insurance.  Most have the same requirements to obtain a Guaranteed Standard Offer.

The Purpose of GSI: This form of individual plan is designed to be employer paid (or mandatory contributory) and supplement the group offering.  Often group plans are capped and discriminate against the more highly compensated.  This offering makes it easy to obtain, WITHOUT UNDERWRITING (I’m sure many of you have seen where the president or a member of the “C” suite is often the uninsurable/unhealthy one), while still providing all of the benefits of an individual plan.

What does this mean?

•  An own-occupation definition of disability (this plan is for executives or those earning at least $75,000 or $100,000 depending on the carrier).
• A true residual is part of the plan.
• COLA (Cost of Living Increase) options are available.
• The policy is usually non-cancellable (some offer this as a rider).

Are you an ancillary lines group producer? If so, this product is an excellent way to cement your client relationships and help the executives secure their financial plan.

Are you working outside of the insurance field? If you are an employer, business owner, or member of a group, feel free to contact us for more detailed information and to see if your group qualifies.

As we have said in the past, we strive to make this process easy and understandable.  If and when you have a potential case we are more than happy to provide you with everything you need. Let us know how we can serve you!

When the Success of Your Business Lies in Someone Else’s Hands: Broker Newsletter

If you work with business clients, you know that many have at least one “key employee.” These individuals provide a vital service, fill an important role, and/or help generate income for the business. In turn, if that employee were to become ill or disabled, it would be difficult for the owner(s) to fill the shoes or find a replacement.

Think of:

• A manufacturing company that has a key foreman or machinist, whose loss would be detrimental to the company,
• A key salesperson whose relationships with certain accounts are vital to the survival of the business,
• A small sales team whose administrator provides all of the operational, client management, and back-end support,
• A CFO, CIO, or other C-Suite executive of a larger corporation.

The loss or absence of any of these key employees due to a disability or illness, even in the short term, could result in a financial loss to the business!

In order to help protect the business, Key Person Disability Insurance exists to provide the financial resources to keep the business moving and find a replacement if necessary.

• Key Person Insurance can provide the means to Recruit, Hire, and Train a replacement, and/or offset a portion of the financial loss.
• The employer is the Applicant, Owner, Payor, and Beneficiary of the policy, provided that the employee agrees to be insured.
• Premiums are not deductible to the company; however, the benefits are tax free.

At Insurance Specialties Inc., we are here to help you design and implement the most comprehensive and competitive plan based on the carrier strength, occupation, health, and goal of your client.

It is our advanced knowledge and understanding that drives us forward.  Let us share our expertise with you! 

800.358.8844

info@insurance-specialties.com

http://www.insurance-specialties.com

http://www.facebook.com/insurancespecialtiesinc

https://twitter.com/isi_psi

They Work Hard for the Money…So Help Them Protect It: Broker Newsletter

Disability Insurance: It’s as important to the living (and their families) as life insurance is to the beneficiaries; it’s not just for the societal elite.

• For the white collar/executive market, we have companies that are extremely competitive and offer a true own-occupation with a residual/return to work benefit.  Though not inexpensive, there is a great value to these well-defined and constructed policies.

• Contractors, roofers, trades people, police and fire department personnel, and truck drivers, to name a few, fit this blue-gray collar category.  Whether they own their own businesses or are employees, they all need disability coverage!  We work with multiple carriers and will share numerous approaches to help these clients.

• Don’t forget about the availability of executive carve-out and salary continuation plans!  Many highly compensated executives are actually discriminated against in their company’s group plan.  (Stay tuned, we will share more on the solutions to this concept in a later issue.)

At Insurance Specialties Inc., we are here to help you design and implement the most comprehensive and competitive plan based on the carrier strength, occupation, health, and goal of your client.

It is our advanced knowledge and understanding that drives us forward.  Let us share our expertise with you! 

800.358.8844

info@insurance-specialties.com

http://www.insurance-specialties.com

http://www.facebook.com/insurancespecialtiesinc

https://twitter.com/isi_psi

Instant Disability Quote

Business Owners and Disability…Keeping the Business Running: Broker Newsletter

Do you have business clients that:

• Own a business?
•  Are partners with 1 to 5 others?
• Are members of a small corporation with less than 10 principals?

Business overhead is there to protect the business in the event the owner, partner, or working shareholder becomes disabled.  As agents and brokers, it is our responsibility to make certain we provide our business clients with Business Overhead Expense Insurance.

BOE will pay the expenses of the business in the event of a disability and is a 100% tax deductible expense to the business! Here are a few covered expenses: Rent Utilities Employee Salaries Telephone Loan Payments Professional Services (Legal/Accounting) Professional Replacement Advertising For a few pennies on the dollar, your business client can protect all that he/she has built. In the event he/she is unable to return to work, the business can be sold as a going concern.

At Insurance Specialties Inc., we are here to help you design and implement the most comprehensive and competitive plan based on the carrier strength, occupation, health, and goal of your client.

It is our advanced knowledge and understanding that drives us forward.  Let us share our expertise with you! 

800.358.8844

info@insurance-specialties.com

http://www.insurance-specialties.com

http://www.facebook.com/insurancespecialtiesinc

https://twitter.com/isi_psi

 

What’s Happening in our World of Insurance This Week

Our very own President of Insurance Specialties, David M. Block and Vice President, Andrea M. Block have headed to Washington, DC for the annual National Association of Health Underwriter’s (NAHU) Capitol Conference.  As Federal Law and Legislation Chair of both the Western North Carolina and North Carolina State Chapter, David and other Board Members will be lobbying NC Congressman Mark Meadows and Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr for changes to the Affordable Care Act for what David says, “would make an immediate impact on large employer groups.”

Here is what David had to say in his recent Letter to the Editor piece for The Citizen-Times, Asheville:

Let’s Get the Count Right – Full-Time means Forty Hours

Relief Needed for Employers in their efforts to comply with the Affordable Care Act

Many of you know I am a licensed insurance agent … I make no bones about my chosen profession and take pride in providing protection to individuals, businesses, and families.  I belong to several industry associations that serve the needs of agents and help keep us updated on pending legislation and its ramifications.

As a member of the National Association of Health Underwriters, representing over 100,000 employee benefit and individual health insurance professions, I am writing to address one easily fixed aspect of the Affordable Care Act — knowing who is actually eligible for employer sponsored health insurance.

The law requires employers with fifty or more “full-time equivalents” to allow their “full-time” employees (those working 30 or more hours per week on average) to enroll in the company’s health insurance plan.  The issue is, many business owners are finding it nearly impossible to know who those people are because they don’t have the time to figure that out, or money to buy software or services that would identify those folks.

 The fact is, that every other set of federal laws considers Full-Time to mean 40 hours per week.

Thus, they are left frustrated and confused by the process and the requirements of documenting why an employee was included or excluded from coverage.  In addition, by having this lower number of hours equal full-time, many employees (who already consider themselves part-time) cannot obtain subsidized coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace.

The United States House of Representatives has already passed a bill (HR 30 – Save American Workers Act of 2015) and similar bipartisan legislation is being considered in the Senate (S. 30).  As someone who works with employers of all sizes, I know that if this legislation is passed and signed by the President, it will make the burdens of implementing the Affordable Care Act a little more bearable.

 Please encourage Senators Burr and Tillis to pass this legislation.  In addition, do not forget to write or call the President to ask for his help getting this law passed!

Best of luck to the all of the NAHU representatives from around the country in making an impact; as their motto says, “stand up and be heard.”