There are nearly 2000 insurance firms in the United States. Due to the explosive growth in the voluntary market, many firms have recently entered the voluntary benefits area (some have left just as quickly). There are some guidelines which may assist you in determining which agency you will work with on handling your voluntary benefit business.

Ask how efficient the carrier is when it comes to paying claims.

This question should come first, since this is the ultimate acid test of any program. Some carriers compete on low premiums (price), some compete by paying brokers higher commissions, neither of these are truly valid metrics from an employers perspective. Most top brokers offer top carriers, and tend to have a consultative approach. They offer programs that fit the client's needs regardless of the commission structure they are offered. Find out which carriers have the most marketshare in your area, if your broker is not recomending that carrier, you should do a little homework to find out why not. Carriers gain share by providing high payouts, having low expense ratios and a strong servicing record. Your local Insurance board will have report of customer satisfaction rankings for insurance carriers, ask for a copy. And while you are at it, ask for a financial stability rating from AM Best or similar agency.

Customer satisfaction should be the first qualification that you investigate when considering voluntary benefits. As an employer offering a voluntary program you do not want to hear how long employees have waited to collect on a claim. If there was an unfortunate event, your employee needs the money now; when they incur the expenses. You do not want to hear how difficult it was to collect on a claim. An insightful question to ask is whether or not the insurance company has a claims committee for appeal or review of denied claims. A good claims committee looks for legal reasons to pay a claim, not reasons to avoid payment.

Ask how the billing is done.

Good questions include "How do we handle a missed deduction due to vacations, sickness, etc.?" Be wary if the carrier will send a bill to the employee for a single missed payment. Most top carriers have found a way to defer the payment or ideally will have an Internet billing solution that will allow corrections to be made on-line.

Find out if the agent needs to collect money with the application, the preferred method is to have the carrier do the collections. It is helpful to find out if the payroll administrator can make adjustments on the bill for terminations and changes. Determining the number of billing modes is another key point, the best answer comes from carriers that have flexibility by offering many modes such as weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.

Now is a good time to find out if there is a central 800 number to call for customer service. Most benefit agents are out in the field servicing accounts, it is an advantage to have a toll free number for your employees, a bi-lingual number is a bonus if your firm has a high percentage of non-english speaking participants.

It is important to understand the number of participating employees required to form a group. The smaller the number (less than 10), the better the answer.

The product set should meet five key tests;

1. Affordability - generally speaking the weekly premium should be in the range of their hourly wage.
2. Complement existing benefits -not compete with something that the company already pays for.
3. Underwriting - Simplified field issue is best.
4. Simplicity- easy to understand programs
5. Universality - a broad spectrum of offerings allows customization and minimizes the likelihood that you will need several voluntary firms or invoices.