Brokers getting more support from carriers
Local assistance to close cases, online commission statements and forms, voluntary sales training and continuing education are the most commonly offered services to brokers according to a new survey. The poll of carriers by Eastbridge Consulting Group found that most of the services are developed in house.
In terms of services provided by carriers on behalf of the brokers for their clients, the most common are: enrollment communication materials, customized/pre-populated forms, enrollment systems and customized enrollment materials.
More than half of the carriers surveyed also provide online benefits administration/HRIS systems, core benefit enrollment and full benefits administration to their brokers’ clients. The costs for these services are typically paid for by the carriers, although the carriers often partner with an outside vendor for the systems and benefits administration services and have the broker or client cover the costs.
Aetna quits trade group
America’s Health Insurance Plans has lost another high-profile member. Aetna has announced that it is leaving the trade group, following UnitedHealth’s decision to quit last year. The group has 1,300 members and was a key player in the development of the Affordable Care Act. When UnitedHealth left the group it said that its interests were not being represented but Aetna has not expanded on its reason for leaving. "AHIP's successful advocacy record speaks for itself," Marilyn Tavenner, president and chief executive of AHIP, told Nasdaq.com in a statement.
Will this be an insurance industry disruptor?
Blockchain will be a disruptor in the insurance industry according to the managing director of the Insurance IT division of global services company
Accenture. “Insurance is gaining momentum in the use of blockchain and slowly figuring out the true business use or to some degree what the use case should be. I have no doubt that within the next few years it will be a major technology in the insurance ecosystem” Abizer Rangwala told allcoinsnews.com. Blockchain technology is gaining ground as a more secure transactional system and is used for maintaining the public ledger of bitcoin transactions. Rangwala believes that insurers will benefit from trading digital assets and developing large layered commercial insurance programs. However, there are also uses which could challenge traditional insurance businesses such as peer-to-peer programs.
