Employers most commonly offer disability, life, and AD&D on a voluntary basis, according to a recently released Eastbridge study

AVON, CONNECTICUT, USA (October 29, 2020)

Accident (personal injury) and critical illness coverage round out the top five products offered, finds Eastbridge’s The Employer Viewpoint MarketVision™ Report.  In addition, many employers offer a variety of non-traditional products including identify protection, legal services, pet insurance, telemedicine, and financial wellness education and tools.

The top five products that employers expressed interest in offering on a voluntary basis in the future are cancer, long-term care, critical illness, hospital indemnity/supplemental medical, and legal plans. The percentage of employers offering fully employer-paid products continues to decline with A&D and long-term disability showing over 40% declines, short-term disability showing an over-30% decline, and term life showing an over-20% decline since 2009.

Benefit managers were asked how likely they are to make several different changes to their benefits program due to COVID-19. Compared to 2016 when we asked benefit managers how likely they were to make changes over the next 18 months, most are equally likely to add a new voluntary benefit or move an employer-paid benefit to a voluntary basis. However, more employers are considering dropping one or more benefits completely compared to 2016.

By employer size, employers with more than 1,000 employees are the most likely to drop one or more benefits. Employers with more than 2,500 employees are more likely to move an employer-paid benefit to voluntary or add a new employer-paid or partially employer-paid benefit, whereas employers with fewer than 2,500 employees are much more likely to say they do not plan to make any benefit changes.

Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. is a marketing advisory firm serving insurance and financial services organizations in the United States and Canada.