The latestversions of hospital indemnity plans have many options in both thespecific benefits included in the plan and the benefit amounts.(Photo: Shutterstock)

In the 2019 BenefitsPRO/Eastbridge survey, brokers said that,increasingly, their "go-to" voluntary products are accident,critical illness and hospital indemnity, rather than just life anddisability. But despite this finding, 72 percent of all employersdo not offer a hospital indemnity/supplemental medical plan. Maybemore important, just 27 percent of employees currently own ahospital indemnity plan. That means 73 percent do not own it, butwhen asked about products they might like to purchase on avoluntary basis, 43 percent of those employees are interested inbuying one.

Regardless of whether you are currently selling hospitalindemnity plans to your cases, read on to see why you should andwhy you need to be sure your plan is up-to-date with the latestdevelopments in the product.

Bonnie Brazzell and Nick Rockwell,Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc.

Related: Hospital indemnity: meeting today's workforceneeds

Many voluntary carriers are now offering hospital indemnityplans, meaning more competition and more product innovations. In2014, just 35 percent of the carriers in the voluntary marketoffered a hospital indemnity plan, but by 2018, that percentage was61 percent. And we expect it has grown even higher today.

In a recent survey, carriers said they are updating their plansto be HSA-compatible and highly flexible to better coordinate withany employer's medical plan. The latest versions of hospitalindemnity plans have many options in both the specific benefitsincluded in the plan and the benefit amounts. In fact, some plansare structured so that all benefits are optional except for thebasic hospital confinement benefit. This gives you the ability totailor a hospital indemnity plan to your employer client'sneeds.

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Other innovations in benefits design may include a higherbenefit payment if the covered person chooses to get care in selecthospitals or facilities selected by the employer, as well as moreclaims integration with the medical plan, although this latterscenario varies by carrier.

Some medical carriers may automatically open a hospitalindemnity claim if a covered person files a medical claim withthem. Others may not open a claim, but do proactively reach out tothe person to remind them that they have hospital indemnitycoverage and should file a claim. Still others streamline theclaims process for hospital indemnity if a medical claim isfiled.

So, if you are selecting a hospital indemnity plan to offer, youmay consider these benefits and innovations; of course,guarantee-issue underwriting and competitive pricing are stillimportant. There are many options in the market today and these arepopular products, so make sure you are staying up-to-date andoffering these plans to your accounts.

Read more: 

• 3 ways to help employees get smarter about thebenefits of hospital indemnity insurance
• New Aflac offering combines accident, criticalillness and hospital indemnity
• Voluntary hospital indemnity, disease-specificplans, on regulators' radar