Disability, Coverage, Workers' Comp & Communications

Recently we at Vesta p&c had a meeting with our affiliates, BenefitPlace and Vesta Worksite to discuss a recent study about employee disability insurance sponsored by Northwestern Mutual and performed by Harris Interactive.

Quite simply, the results showed that only 10% of the 2,100 workers responding were insured for disability with 30% receiving the coverage through the worksite.  In addition, nearly 80% of the respondents indicated they would be "Devastated" if a disability prevented them from working.  EmployeeBenefit News", in covering the study, pointed out that it was ironic that "73% of the respondents have insured their home or rental property and 88% have auto insurance".

The participation in our discussion was interesting:

• Worksite Specialists pointed out that while they encourage Employers to offer disability (DI) coverage, many Employers are reluctant to make voluntary DI Plans available and believe the additional protection will encourage employees to stay off the job and negatively impact on their Workers' Comp.  It was also indicated that many Employers do not believe Employees would be willing to participate at their own cost and discretion.
• Employee Benefit Specialist, working with the "Core Benefits", indicated that Employers were cutting back on Employer paid DI plans to focus their contributions to the Health Plans.  It was further indicated they had only a limited knowledge about the Worksite/Voluntary Plans that could be offered to the Employees.
• The P&C Group indicated that Employers complain about Worker'Comp costs and yet are often reluctant to implement a well planned and sponsored safety plan.  It was also indicated that P&C brokers seldom interface with the Health & Life Brokers, Core or Worksite, to discuss disabilities and coverages.
• Worksite, Core Benefit & P&C Contributors all agreed that Employees: have little information about the impact of disabilities on the Employers costs; believe that disabilities only happen to others; consider Workers' Comp a Government Funded Plan; and have limited access to disability plans whether Employer Paid or Voluntary.  

We all agreed that their seemed to be a "Lack of Communications" creating many of the problems!  It would benefit the Employers, Employees, and the overall Brokerage Community to become more interactive and to integrate Programs, Products and Services.

Please share your thoughts and Have a Great Week!