The Standard

Fall 2010

Gloves Off

The Standard Rolls Out Protector Platinum^SM

by Steve Brady RHU, 2nd Vice President IDI Sales & Marketing

A new product rollout means change and many will wonder what the reason is behind the change. If it's not broken then why fix it?

The Protector+^SM Individual Disability Income (IDI) insurance has been a great product for the past five years. The Protector+ stood on the shoulders of The Protector^SM which The Standard introduced the summer of 2000. The Protector in turn stood on the shoulders of The Executive Protector^SM and The Income ProtectorSM introduced in 1990 and 1992, respectively.

The competition has rapidly increased, changed and improved. The economy has also changed and as we wait for a recovery, The Standard must adjust, change and improve, too.

The Standard has led the disability insurance industry as the first carrier to reintroduce Own Occupation (Own Occ) for all physicians in August of 2000. It took six years for the competition to follow our lead. Now, disability insurance carriers that have never before offered Own Occ coverage to all physicians have joined in the battle for your business.

The Standard Is A Leader In Disability Insurance

With the combined Long Term Disability (LTD) and IDI revenues at The Standard, we have a higher percentage of revenue coming from disability insurance than any other insurance carrier in the United States. The chart below illustrates recent standings for LTD and IDI, showing percentage of premium to total revenue.

Report Compiled from: LIMRA Survey of 2008 Group and IDI Sales and in force information, IDI in force from JHA 2008 Survey, and annual reports and statistical supplements.

Included With Every Protector Platinum IDI Policy

The Standard bundled the base Protector Platinum policy with all the following features to help make disability insurance easier to understand, teach, sell and own.

True Own Occ For Every Occupation

Own Occ is included with every Protector Platinum policy for all occupation classes – 5A, 4A, 4P, 3A, 3P, 2A, 2P, A and B. I wonder how long the competition will take to follow us again.

The Strongest Partial Disability Provision In The Industry

The purpose of partial or residual disability provisions is two-fold:

Encourage insureds to return to work, and
Encourage those who are able to work part-time to do so, rather than file for total disability just to collect benefits.

So why not remove any temptation to remain totally disabled when there is a possibility the insured can return to work? Why not encourage partial disability as the strongest feature in the policy? That is what we have done with Protector Platinum.

The Partial Disability Benefit pays total disability benefits for the first six months of partial disability regardless of the income earned while the insured returns to work or continues working.

I believe that feature alone will change the industry’s outlook on Partial Disability. Rehabilitation is most successful with early intervention. Paying total disability benefits regardless of the loss of income (if any), is the best form of rehabilitation at the earliest time of intervention possible.

In order to meet the Partial Disability definition of disability during the waiting period and first six months of claim, the insured only needs a:

Loss of time, or
Loss of duties, or
Loss of income with the physician requirement. The use of the word "or" (rather than "and") makes The Standard's the strongest provision in the industry. After the first six months of claim we drop the loss of time and loss of duties provisions.

Recovery is now unlimited as long as the insured continues to have a loss of income that is caused by the preceding disability. There is no ongoing physician care requirement for recovery.

Compassionate Care^SM Benefit

This is a new feature for the industry. The unique difference between the Compassionate Care Benefit and a normal disability benefit is that the insured is not the disabled. With Compassionate Care, if an insured's loved one (a spouse, child, parent, or domestic partner) suffers a serious health condition, and the insured has a loss of time or duties, and a loss of income, benefits will be paid for a limited time to help the insured provide care for the loved one's condition.

Unlimited Mental Disorder/Substance Abuse Benefit

In Protector Platinum, we have combined true Own Occ and unlimited Mental Disorder/Substance Abuse (MD/SA) with the base coverage.1 With The Protector+, if insureds had Own Occ, coverage under MD/SA was limited to two years. With Protector Platinum, insureds now have Own Occ and MD/SA throughout the entire benefit period.

Riders with Protector Platinum

The Standard still offers a Guaranteed Renewable chassis. Your customers have premium choices with all the features mentioned above and they can choose from four riders:

Noncancelable Rider
Catastrophic Disability Rider
Future Purchase Option Rider
Indexed Cost of Living Rider

Experience Counts

The Standard leads with innovation that is in your customers' best interests. I invite you to read the article in the issue by Jason Katraouzos that speaks to the teamwork, expertise and strategy that went into the development of Protector Platinum. We have the greater percentage of our total revenue invested in the business of disability insurance. As a disability insurance leader we will remain smart, profitable, fair and stable.

Trust your precious business to The Standard.