Aflac Courts Group Life Benefits Brokers

By Allison Bell

August 22, 2017 at 06:31 AM

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Aflac Inc. is defending its turf in the worksite and voluntary benefits market from competitors by adding group life products.

The Columbus, Georgia-based life insurers introduced the new group term life and group whole life products Monday.

Stephanie Shields, the vice product of product innovation and marketing at Aflac, said the company has moved quickly to expand its life product menu. "By becoming a true one-stop shop, we are eliminating any need for brokers to look elsewhere to provide what their clients want for their workers," Shields said.

The voluntary, worksite and employer-paid group benefits markets have been attracting more attention in recent years as a result of the effects of low interest rates and regulatory uncertainty on the individual life and annuity markets, and because of the effects of the Affordable Care Act and cost control pressure on the major medical market.

MetLife Inc., for example, recently put its individual life and annuity operations in a separate company, Brighthouse Financial Inc., but it continues to compete in the life benefits market.

Unum Group Inc. has tried to expand by acquiring Starmount Life, a provider of dental and vision benefits products, and by starting a medical stop-loss provider, or insurance program for self-funded employer health plans.

— Read Mutuals Back NAIFA State-Level Lobbying Effort on ThinkAdvisor.

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