Whether you are an experienced benefits consultant, a group producer, or a benefits advisor who wants someone to back you up, or you simply want to get into the corporate/group benefits market to better serve your clients, you will find common problems plague most Canadians when it comes to health care. Employees are demanding more from employer sponsored plans at a time when governments are shifting more health care expenses to the private sector. 

But at the same time, the rapid growth in the number of small and medium sized businesses has been accompanied by an increase in the minimum group size by some insurers and greater restrictions in the options available in the smaller group market. This makes it more difficult for businesses to respond and to be competitive.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are you finding your clients frustrated with their government health plan?
  What it doesn't cover, limits on what it does cover and how much those extras cost – if they can get extra coverage?
   
• Are your employer clients who sponsor plans at work frustrated with the increasing costs, limited options, variable service and reporting?
   
• Do you seek alternatives for your clients that go beyond the off-the-shelf programs of most suppliers?
   
• Do you want access to options and support that will give you added credibility, a competitive edge and add a new dimension to your business?

In this environment, the role of benefits advisor and the provision of cost-effective employee benefits is becoming increasingly important.

With the increasing complexity associated with health benefits along with consolidation of product suppliers, it is difficult for individual producers and agencies to have all the ingredients and systems needed to properly fulfill increasing client demands for alternative solutions. The demand is not just for cost containment but for creative ways to maintain or even supplement benefit programs in the face of a rapidly changing health care environment.

New strategies and alternatives are required to respond to these changes and they include both insured and non-insured options and more frequently, combinations of the two. However, it is not easy to find a broad range of group products and services AND to have them administered through a single billing system.

Consider working with us so we can help you to better serve your clients!

ALTERNATIVE BENEFIT SOLUTIONS ("ABS") is a fully independent group benefits MGA and Third Party Administrator (TPA) established in 1997 (and formerly known as MCG Benefit Services) to support and service financial services practitioners who:

• have opportunities in the corporate market
   
• simply want to provide their clients with innovative group benefit solutions that really work, and
   
• want to help employer clients solve health care related issues, maintain and/or increase employee morale and productivity and grow their businesses.
   

In addition to its expertise and support for the traditional insured plan markets, as a Group MGA ALTERNATIVE BENEFIT SOLUTIONS offers a full menu of alternatives and optional programs supported by our in-house TPA (Third Party Administrative Services) to provide a single source group resource facility.

This facility enables ABS to offer a unique combination of products and services that assists producing brokers to help their clients develop ongoing innovative cost savings plans.

Our approach to providing alternative solutions is characterized by the flexibility of our individually underwritten Menuflex™ Program. We also extend the alternatives we provide to include options within the traditional insured markets, as well as non-insured approaches supported by lower cost stop loss insurance to protect against catastrophic situations.

The range of products and services include:

• Claims & Billing Systems
   
• Health Care Spending Accounts
   
• Administrative Services Only (ASO) Programs
   
• Stop Loss Insurance
   
• True Group Sales Platform
   
• Menuflex™ - a Proprietary Small Group and Individual Health Programs
   

Niche Products:

• Affordable Disability Insurance
   
• Group Critical Illness
   
• First-In-Line Medical
   
• Group Accidental Death & Dismemberment
   
• Expatriate Travel & International Student Coverage
   
• Group Out-Of-Province 'Carve Out'
   

All of these programs can be developed on a "white label" basis, thereby helping brokers and benefit consultants to position their services to their clients that helps to reinforce their own brand.

Through its Group MGA, ABS can optimize the use of specialty carriers to offer a unique range of products and services that provide clients with the ability to create plans tailored to their specific needs. They benefit from cost saving opportunities that arise from mixing and matching components under these arrangements and all delivered through its simplified single source TPA (Third Party Administrative Services).  

These Group MGA and TPA products and services include:

• Claims & Billing Systems - a complete range of administration, billing, certification and claims paying services to groups and associations of all sizes which allows full adjudication services for ASO, HCSA and Cost Plus programs.
  
  This facility permits maximum client flexibility to select benefit components from a variety of suppliers with the benefit of a single source administration and billing. With one billing and one Toll Free Number, the TPA takes care of the administrative enquiries for the client employer. 
  
  Best of all, there is no extra cost to the client since the insurance company pays for the TPA fees through reduced administration charges.
  
  
• Health Care Spending Accounts – or HCSAs, are available in conjunction with traditional plans or in lieu of a traditional program. HCSAs offer the employer the ability to expense eligible health and dental expenditures without a tax consequence to the individual employee. Contributions made to the HSA are fully tax deductible to the corporation.
   
• Stop Loss Insurance - an insurance program that provides the ability to self-insure initial health and/or claims through varying deductible amounts with the added security of having an insurer take over larger claims and protect against catastrophic items once that threshold has been reached. This program offers substantial savings and flexibility with the security of a traditional program.
   
• Administrative Services Only Programs (ASO) – have grown since many group insurance renewals through traditional benefit programs have become increasingly difficult for clients to accept. Higher claims utilization coupled with escalating trend and reserve factors have left many clients looking for alternative solutions to the standard "shop the market" approach.
  
  The ability to structure ASO benefit programs for groups not only reduces ultimate claims exposure of the group (through Stop Loss coverage) but also allows the company to fully benefit during years of decreased claims utilization. For the right clients, the long-term savings can be substantial.
   
• True Group Sales Platform – offers a market shopping facility through some of the premiere group providers in Canada. Unlike traditional group programs, however, these are not "standard packages" with a single carrier. Instead options with several carriers are reviewed and the most appropriate and competitively priced benefits are matched to client needs. This offers the policyholder the best combination of benefits and prices in the market.
   
• Menuflex™ – Proprietary Small Group and Individual Health Programs – a series of products with various benefit levels to best suit the needs of each participant and their dependents for incorporated and unincorporated businesses – which can also be offered on a defined contribution basis.
  
  They are designed to meet the benefit needs of the employers of virtually any size, self-employed individuals, employees, part-time and contract employees.
  
  The program offers either a traditional program approach or a totally modular approach allowing each client the flexibility to customize the program to their specific needs.
  
  Although multiple carriers are utilized for this program, the administration and billing is through one source.
  
  Components include:
  
  
• Medical & Dental Spending Account
   
• Accident insurance
   
• Optional Extended Health Care and Dental
   
• Critical Illness insurance
   
• Disability insurance
   
• Individual Health and Dental Program, and Optional Benefits
   
• Expatriate Health & Dental insurance

• Group Critical Illness - A series of optional & mandatory Group CI products as stand alone products supplementing the basic group insurance program. The attractiveness of the programs to such producers is that they are not tied to the same carriers as the basic benefit program (i.e. medical and dental). This ensures that the basic plan retains its full mobility by structuring CI benefit as a separate module.
   
• First-In-Line Medical Programs - Business owners, key persons and executives have the ability to purchase supplemental medical coverage allowing them the freedom to avoid waiting lines and choose to have serious medical conditions treated immediately through the top medical facilities in the U.S and internationally. First-In-Line coverage pays for this choice on an optional basis for individuals or through group coverages.
   
• Group Accidental Death & Dismemberment - A specialty contract with additional benefits available that are generally not included through traditional group AD&D programs. Again, we can offer this as a stand-alone module that is portable regardless of which carriers supply the basic group medical/dental program.
   
• Expatriate Travel & International Student Coverage - Individual coverage programs available for international travel for business travelers that provide additional benefits protection not provided through traditional programs.  A program also is available for students.
   
• Group Out-Of-Province 'Carve Out' Coverage - Available on a stand alone group carve-out basis for groups of 10 employees or more.
   

ABS provides both front-end consulting and sales support for group life and health needs and back office systems that include billings, claims adjudication, marketing literature, employee booklets, etc.

While many agencies and brokers have their own expertise in some areas of corporate benefit needs, ABS can supplement this where needed through its team of senior experts, specializing in their respective fields with over 25 years of experience each. ABS can make any one or all of these resources available to assist the agency and its brokers successfully service the needs of their corporate clients.

All members of the team have subscribed to high ethical standards throughout the development of their careers that often exceed industry standards for compliance. This level of integrity and professionalism will help to assure clients, other producing associates and suppliers that ABS will conduct business with the highest of ethical standards.

ABS will provide support and product access to experienced producers as required and will provide both marketing and field support to those producers who have the client relationships but who are less familiar with the group benefits business. For those producers who have the client relationships but have little or no group benefits experience, ABS will partner and complete the transactions on a shared commission basis.

Agencies and brokers maintain full control of all client activities at all times.

In addition to creating a system that makes business placed through this program very difficult to replace, we customize the program on a `Private Label' basis for your brokerage agency or for individual brokers that helps to reinforce the brand and what you offer. The Private labelling feature also re-enforces the fact that this is a 'special program' offered by you and/or your brokers that will serve to strengthen the relationship over time between you and your clients and contracted brokers and the brokers and their client policyholders.  In addition, it supports the sale of other products and sales you offer.

If you are a benefits advisor, consultant, life insurance broker, mutual fund representative, business consultant, P&C broker and have business clients that you want to better serve with a broader range of products and services to meet their needs and protect your relationship with them – then we can probably help you.

Contact us today to find out how our programs can work for you!

To brokers and policyholders the advantages to our alternative program are many:

• Access to a variety of specialty carriers who offer additional services or enhanced benefits and additional optional products for a more complete corporate offering, not available through traditional group suppliers. This access to a broader suite of group products and services helps:
  
  
• Generate business client loyalty and protect your relationship with them
   
• Maximize the use of client and prospect premium dollars to meet their needs, increase customer satisfaction and further eliminate competitor access.
   
• Make business placed through this program very difficult to replace.
   
• One administration system with a single organization to deal with all administrative matters based on wholesale administration cost factors makes life easier and helps maintain lower costs.
   
• Generates opportunities to gain access to corporate markets and create additional and diversified sources of income from group business as well as:
   
• New corporate life sales (i.e. Key Man, Buy/Sell) and other individual sales
   
• "Top-up" sales for corporate disability scenarios, executive life insurance, pension and other needs
   
• Workplace Marketing to employee groups for a variety of individual products lines such as: Term Life, Critical Illness, Long Term Care, RRSPs,
   
• Provides more time to prospect and develop more sales opportunities on core product lines (i.e. individual life, individual investment)
   

If our approach, product and/or services are of interest to you, please call or e-mail us for contracting and/or additional information on how the program can work for you to generate additional revenue and profit.

Need more information? Visit our website here, or contact us: