The Standard

Winter 2009

Back to school

by Mike Feuerstein
Manager, Guarantee Issue Individual Disability Insurance

I was watching the news with my five year-old daughter when a story about adults returning to school to obtain additional training came on. She asked me why grown-ups would go back to school. She thought this was silly because at her school, the only grown-ups are the teachers. I explained that those adults know that learning new skills is a great way to keep their jobs or to find new ones. Her comment got me thinking.

The current economic downturn has served as a reminder to people that their jobs and incomes are assets worth protecting. The Standard's year-to-date guarantee issue (GI) quoting activity, at the time of writing this article, is up 38% over last year, and is higher this year than at any time since The Standard started offering GI individual disability insurance. It could be argued that some companies are just shopping for a better rate, but I think the boost in this year's quotes is due to the economy and The Standard's renewed focus on competitive GI programs.

A lesson learned

I have noticed a trend over the past several years toward voluntary GI plans. These plans allow employers to give employees access to important benefits they may not obtain elsewhere, while at the same time helping to minimize employer expenses. Companies have been taking advantage of the cost-saving nature of these voluntary plans. And The Standard's excellent closing ratio — one in five over the last year — makes these an attractive choice for brokers to sell.

In our industry new ideas are quickly exploited. We certainly watch what other carriers are doing with their GI programs, but we don't simply follow the herd. If an idea seems to makes sense, we decide whether it's also a good fit for The Standard. If it meets both criteria, we see how we can incorporate it into our program. If not, we leave it alone.

Over the past twelve months we have introduced or modified GI programs and guidelines. Here are some examples:

A review of the mandatory GI underwriting guidelines revealed that in the 10 - 75 life band, The Standard's limits were too low. As a result we increased the maximum benefit amount on all bands, some by as much as 30%.
We began making offers on several nontraditional cases for voluntary GI, for example, graduating medical school residents and bar associations. These involved association business where the writing producer had a high degree of control and the populations represented good candidates for GI.
In response to multiple requests from brokers for offers on small, closely-held businesses, we devised an underwriting program for mandatory GI on groups with five to nine lives. Since introducing this program at the beginning of 2009, we have made over 100 GI offers on these smaller cases.
Some employers do not have a long term disability (LTD) plan and have no plans to purchase one in the future. However, they need and want to protect their employees' income in the event of disability. To meet this need, we designed a program for employer-paid cases with ten lives or more where LTD is not present.
Working closely with The Standard's Employee Benefits business line, we designed and implemented the LTD Options Package Plan. This plan can be used when an employer purchases an LTD and a GI plan from The Standard. Employers who make this combination purchase become eligible to add valuable features to their LTD policy at no additional cost. The response to this enhancement has been excellent. For more information about the LTD Options Package Plan, or to request a flyer outlining the plan, please call 800.992.4446 or email .

The Standard's GI Team

The Standard is one of only a handful of companies that specialize in disability insurance. This is what we have chosen to do. Through our words and actions you can be confident we are in this business for the long haul.

Industry icon Donald Boggs is now a consultant to The Standard on GI operations and programs. Don is an accomplished disability insurance industry professional who served in a senior capacity at Paul Revere, Provident and Unum during a career spanning more than thirty years. Don has been very involved with GI programs throughout his career and we are excited to be working with him.

We have a dedicated GI team and believe that the focus of a select group of employees on this dynamic underwriting program will allow us to best leverage our expertise. GI underwriters concentrate on the niche of GI as a hybrid of individual disability and group underwriting insurance principles. The Standard's sales staff can help you find the best solution to meet your customers' needs. In addition, post-sale policy administration, service and billing staff is also focused exclusively on GI.

A GI account manager coordinates GI IDI with The Standard's Employee Benefits when there are combination sales. We have added a training and development specialist to the GI Team, to help you better understand and sell more GI.

The Standard is serious about growing its GI business, and we want to grow it with you. So, even though my daughter is more interested in cartoons than the nightly news, if she were to ask, I would tell her that just like those men and women going back to school to improve themselves, the members of my GI team are also always looking for ways to learn and improve their service to you.

I hope you will explore your GI opportunities with us as we continue to explore new ways to help you make the GI sale.