America's Benefit Specialist Regional November 2022

VOLUNTARY DISRUPTION

There are certainly growing options in the marketplace and the one that I’ve found great success in, thus far, is WoW Health. Its direct-pay network gives producers an ability to build a more stable roster of consumers and build equity, irrespective of the member’s employment status. Since everyone who signs up has both a personal and employer account, any changes that need to be made would be seamless. More over, these plans are perpetual and renew monthly without any long-term contracts. That means there’s never a need for a yearly conversation about new price points at open enrollment, which opens the door to improving the benefits package by adding other coverage lines. Talk about a major WOW factor and WIN for the employer, employee and us as brokers and advisers! As always, if you’d like to learn more, don’t be shy—reach out and let’s chat.

WHY THE DIRECT-PAY MODEL IS BETTER FOR BROKER COMPENSATION With so much economic uncertainty, employers are poised for financial belt-tight ening. Even some iconic companies like Google have announced plans to cut cor porate expenses. Those efforts may include offloading work onto independent contrac tors or tightening benefit budgets that affect broker commissions or other fees. What happens if employees are downsized or quit? Or if their employer decides to no lon ger offer health insurance? All the sweat equity that benefit brokers and advisers put into the client’s ecosystem would be for naught. On top of that, producers are at the mercy of health insurance carriers that could uni laterally decide to cut their compensation on small or mid-market fully insured groups. Another concern is the direct-to-consum er trend spilling into the health insurance market. Case in point (albeit not health in surance): Geico severing ties with indepen dent brokers and agents in California where customers can sign up for coverage on the insurer’s website. There’s actually a compelling solution to all of these issues. Direct payments to healthcare providers featuring an afford able monthly premium without the need to submit claims offers a viable alternative to traditional health insurance. Individuals who sign up for this subscrip tion-based service for basic everyday care with the option to purchase other services for the same price point remain covered, regardless of their employment status. The arrangement, which can be paid by employers or offered as an enhanced (AKA voluntary) benefit, is fully portable. And since it’s highly affordable at just $5, brokers or advisers have a better chance of securing, in perpetuity, their share of the service fees that are collect ed relative to the traditional health insurance model, whose renewals can be unstable.

By Eric Silverman Silverman Benefits Group Towson, Maryland eric@voluntarydisruption.com

Silverman, Founder and Owner of Voluntary Disruption, a division of Silverman Benefits Group (SBG), is an Amazon “Best Selling” Author featured in the new book: Breaking

Through The Status Quo , and he’s also EBA magazine’s Voluntary Adviser of the Year. Voluntary Disruption works as the “adviser’s adviser” for client’s small to large all across the country, and is nationally recognized as a disruptive carrier agonistic enhanced benefits boutique with in-house distribution and enrollment services. Reach Eric directly by voice and text at (443) 676-0340, by email; eric@voluntarydisruption.com, at his website; voluntarydisruption.com, on LinkedIn, on Twitter @SilvermanSBG, or through his business Facebook page; facebook.com/ SilvermanBenefits.

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