Nearly 50 percent of carrier respondents in a 2016 Eastbridgesurvey indicated that hospital indemnity (HI) will be a growthproduct for their companies in the next one to two years, more thandouble the number from the same survey in 2014.

Employers participating in a separate study ranked hospitalindemnity second in terms of new sales product potential. This jump inexpectations at both the carrier and employer levels suggest thatmany carriers may be preparing to bring more HI plans to market orat least focus on them more, and employers will be open to addingthese products to their employee benefits offering.

Despite this trend, however, most brokers have yet to considerhospital indemnity as a “go-to” product. A recent broker surveyconducted jointly by Eastbridge and BenefitsPRO found bothvoluntary and employee benefit brokers did not rank HI plansamong their top five most commonly sold voluntary products, but didlist four of the top five products the same. With both voluntaryand benefit brokers selling such similar portfolios, exploring HIproducts with clients may give you some welcomeddifferentiation.

Brokers who have chosen to capitalize on today's HI plans findthey can become better solution providers, given the product'sability to fit with an employer's medical plan and its flexibilityto customize the design for a specific employee.

Today's hospital indemnity plans are more like supplementalmedical plans, as they are much broader than a simple dailyhospital confinement benefit. The new plans are structured to helpcover deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses when someone ishospitalized and include benefits such as hospitaladmissions, imaging and diagnostics, surgery, physicianvisits and outpatient treatment, and wellness orpreventive/screening procedures.

Some HI plans also contain coverage options for prescriptiondrugs, daily inpatient treatment, daily skilled nursing and privatenurse care — and all on an indemnity basis so as to remain an“excepted” plan under ACA.

As the expectations for growth in hospital indemnity planscontinue, those who explore these products with current andpotential employer clients could set themselves apart from otherbrokers. These plans not only bring more options and customizablesolutions to each employer's specific medical plan, but allowemployees to offset some of the high out-of-pocket medical expensesassociated with inpatient and outpatient hospital care.