Worksite Carriers Still Innovative

About 80 percent of voluntary benefit carriers plan to introduce at least one worksite product over the next year.

In fact, 30 percent of carriers expect to introduce more products over the next year than they usually do, according to researchers at Eastbridge Consulting Group Inc. Meanwhile, another 49 percent expect to introduce about the same number of new products, while 22 percent expect to introduce no new voluntary products.

The researchers report that term life products may be the most common new employee-paid group products and critical illness products may be the most common new employee-paid individual products.

Finally, for both group and individual lines, universal life-whole life products ranked third in terms of new-product development activity, followed by cancer plans and vision products.