51+: Take a Fresh Look at Voluntary Products

Take a fresh look at voluntary products from Aetna
While there are signs that the economic crisis is slowing, most organizations still face challenges related to the cost of doing business – specifically, the cost of providing benefits to employees. In one study, 94 percent of respondents said they have increased employee contributions for health coverage and raised employee cost-sharing this year, and 58 percent plan some cuts to their workforce in the remainder of 2009.¹

These organizations – your clients – are probably open to considering different approaches for providing employee benefits that will help to reduce benefits expenses, but still offer a complete benefits package to attract and retain employees.

There’s a way they can do both: It’s the i.Choose^SM package of voluntary products and services from Aetna.

i.Choose provides a dynamic portfolio of products and services for the rapidly growing voluntary market place. Voluntary products – where employees pay at least 50 percent of the premium – can play a key role in helping your clients:

Cope with managing benefits costs
Meet varied employee needs
Retain/attract employees
Close coverage gaps

i.Choose is the packaging of Aetna’s products, services, programs and administrative capabilities to provide a flexible solution to meet the unique needs of your clients. The i.Choose voluntary suite is comprised of three distinct components: the products Aetna sells, the worksite marketing/enrollment services they can provide, and the technology options that are available to support electronic enrollment and billing.

Products that help your clients meet the needs of their employees

Dental, Life, AD&D and Short and Long Term Disability – All of Aetna's non-medical products can be offered on a voluntary basis, but what makes Aetna distinct in the market is their ability to integrate them with Aetna's medical products. Even if the employee pays 100 percent of the premium, your clients and their employees alike get the advantages of integration with Aetna: costs may be reduced, productivity may be increased, and employees may have better health outcomes.

Aetna's voluntary product suite has been expanded and now also includes:

Aetna Affordable Health Choices^® – SRC, an Aetna company, can provide limited benefits medical plans. These plans may be an appropriate solution for your clients who want to offer affordable benefits to populations that may otherwise go without benefits, such as temporary or contracted employees.

Vital Savings by Aetna^®– Your clients may be interested in a discount dental solution for any population, but most likely it will be most appropriate for part-time employees and retirees. Your clients can administer payroll deductions or have their population direct-billed.

Pet Insurance – Help your clients offer a valuable, affordable and popular employee benefit. Pets Best, underwritten by Aetna Insurance Company of Connecticut, offers members a variety of plans that fit the needs of their family pet. And there are no administrative hassles: members sign up directly and are billed individually.

Services that help boost enrollment and help you add value

When enrollment in products is high, your clients will value your guidance in selecting Aetna. Let Aetna's dedicated worksite marketing consultants help make the enrollment a success!

Aetna's team of communications professionals can help your clients develop a marketing plan that fits their unique needs, including services such as:

Worksite marketing services available at no additional cost :

Pre-enrollment communications (electronic and print)

Enrollment kits personalized at the employee level using census data

Enrollment kits personalized at the plan/group level

Onsite enrollment support with the help of Aetna Benefits Counselors

Technology that puts benefits administration at your fingertips

Let Aetna show you what’s new with their technology solutions. i.Choose provides the e.enrollment and e.billing support that makes it all easy to manage. In addition to the EZenroll^® and EZLink^TM administrative platforms, the new i.CAP^SM platform offers features specifically designed for delivering voluntary products to your clients.

Regardless of your client’s contribution level, Aetna's new administrative platform i.CAP provides robust enrollment, billing and reporting features. Employees can enroll themselves. Plan sponsors can pay Aetna online. Reports provide needed information such as payroll, dependent age and employee participation.

To find out more about i.Choose from Aetna, check out their website: http://www.aetna.com/producer/iChoose/.