Is group insurance sick ?!

For the fiduciary, group insurance is a necessary evil. With premiums on the rise and the needs for increased coverage becoming critical, the insurance industry is turning more and more to IT for solutions. The demographic evolution driven by the baby boomers…

The demographic evolution driven by the baby boomers has a direct impact on this reality. It is hard to access information: the right information could be in various different databases, some of which are not easily accessible.

The merger of major insurers did not necessarily improve on this situation, within carriers we can find over 150 different databases. Each of the carriers invests heavily to create or recreate the same non distinctive features as their competitor.

More than 80% of their IT investments are for basic standard features while less than 20% of those investments could be considered really distinct!

Various other participants are needed to insure full support and clientele services. The group benefit advisor or actuary must manage basically the same information, since HE is the primary client resource for all adjacent insurance services. He must professionally advise the group benefit manager with fiscal impact of his actions.

This manager, should he not properly manage this important aspect of group benefit management, could be liable in E&O. Once again, each of these professionals must invest in creating or supporting a similar IT service.