America's Benefit Specialist May 2023

PRODUCT NEWS

tiative can fundamentally transform how U.S. workers think about their benefits, provide a more personal connection, and help them create a safety net to protect themselves and their families, especially in today’s economic uncertainty.” The Hartford’s strategy to simplify the language used to describe benefits started with accidental death and dis memberment insurance and spans across its employee benefits portfolio. The Hartford’s 2023 Future of Benefits Study shows there is a need for better benefits education and resources to support workers: • Thirty-eight percent of U.S. workers say the names and descriptions of their employee benefits are confusing, and 61% of employers agree. • Thirty-five percent of U.S. workers do not understand the supplemental benefits that are offered and what they cover, and 49% of employers agree employees lack under standing about these benefits. • Forty-two percent of U.S. workers believe their company needs better resources to help them understand their benefits, and 58% of employers agree. In addition, the company’s qualitative research revealed that some of the employee benefit names such as acciden tal death and dismemberment insurance created negative emotions among consumers. The enhancements to The Hartford’s accidental loss of life and severe injury benefits, which provide coverage for acci dents resulting in loss of life, motion, sight and limb, among other severe injuries, will be available for employers with 500 or more employees with an effective date starting January 1, 2024. The refreshed insurance coverage will offer several new or enhanced benefits, including coverage to help pay for recovery in a medical facility, mortgage payments, mod ifying a home, car or worksite, therapy services, as well as additional benefits if the loss occurs during a natural disaster or in the workplace. Starting with its employee benefits enrollment education guide and more enrollment materials later this year, The Hartford’s employer customers and their workforces will begin to see employee benefits described in more plain lan guage. Products will be grouped into three categories with benefit names that have been repositioned to be more transparent and descriptive of what the insurance coverage provides: Life and Loss: Life insurance is protection for those you leave behind with a cash benefit that can help with financial planning and loss of future income. Accidental loss of life and severe injury benefits, also known as accidental death and dismemberment insurance, cover you for an accidental loss of life, motion, sight, limb or other severe injuries. Income Protection: Short-term income protection bene fits, also known as short-term disability insurance, replace

AGENCYBLOC LAUNCHES GROUP QUOTING AND PROPOSAL TOOL AgencyBloc, a management platform for independent life and health insurance agencies, has announced the launch of the new digital workflow tool for small group business, Quote+. With Quote+, brokers can compare multiple types of health insurance offerings, including community-rated, medically underwritten and ancillary, in one central place with more valuable tools to manage the various time-con suming processes involved in quoting, product comparison and proposal generation. Quote+ allows brokers to access and compare medically underwritten products alongside community-rated. The debut of this quote-to-close solution follows Agency Bloc’s recent acquisition of FormFire, a small-group quoting tool, and aligns with AgencyBloc’s strategy of being a solu tion provider for life and health insurance agents. Quote+ supports brokers in servicing their clients and growing their agency, providing efficiency in the most time-consuming areas of managing group benefits. “The release of Quote+ represents the next big step forward in providing a comprehensive platform for small-group insur ance from product comparison to quoting and proposal cre ation to closing activities with carriers,” said Bob Burns, chief product officer at AgencyBloc. “Our team will continue to add measurable value for brokers in both streamlining an inher ently manual process and making product detail accessible for agents, so they are able to help clients more effectively.” For more information, visit www.agencybloc.com.

THE HARTFORD RENAMES ACCIDENTAL DEATH AND DISMEMBERMENT INSURANCE TO ENHANCE CONSUMER UNDERSTANDING The Hartford has renamed its accidental death and dismem berment product to accidental loss of life and severe injury benefits. The company is also modernizing existing benefits, adding new benefit options, making it more customizable for its employer customers, and simplifying its benefits edu cation materials. “We must take the mystery out of benefits,” said Laura Marzi, head of marketing for Group Benefits at The Hartford. “The complex language used to describe employee benefits has been a barrier for far too long. Our plain-language ini

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