Complement clients’ health insurance with individual ancillary benefits

Heart attack. Stroke. Cancer. Hospital confinement. 

Yes, those are some of Americans’ biggest fears, but they’re also expensive conditions to treat – even if you have a health insurance plan. You can help your clients offset both the medical expenses and indirect costs for these conditions with a strong portfolio of ancillary products. Here’s what you might offer:

Dental and/or vision insurance 

Much to the consternation of Americans everywhere, dental and vision benefits aren’t included in core medical plans. That leaves them paying out-of-pocket for things like eye exams, dental cleanings, and corrective care. That can add up quickly.

Luckily, most major medical carriers recognize this gap and offer their own solution. This can often simplify a client’s billing and claims experience, so long as they enroll with the same carrier that has their health plan. However, there’s never any harm in shopping around for dental and vision coverage – you may just find more appealing rates and benefits with another carrier.

Critical illness insurance

Sometimes known as dread disease policies, these products will help lessen the financial impact of a heart attack, stroke, or cancer diagnosis. While each carrier’s offerings will vary, these policies generally pay your client a lump sum directly.

And, clients can use that cash however they see fit: paying off their health insurance deductibles and copays, paying for a loved one's travel, boarding Fido as they recover, or socking it away for a post-recovery vacation. It's all on the table.

Hospital indemnity insurance

Hospital stays are expensive. Depending on your clients’ policy, they may be looking at paying anywhere from 20% of their costs to a flat copay of $350 per day. But, especially for your Medicare clients on fixed incomes, they likely have better uses for that money. 

Instead, for less than the cost of that $350 hospital stay and an ambulance ride, your clients can unlock a whole suite of benefits to make them whole after a medical encounter.

These plans will pay a lump sum when your client is hospitalized, but they might also customize that coverage with outpatient surgery riders, outpatient therapy riders, ambulance riders – and even riders that pay out for critical illnesses.

Short-term/Recovery care

Major medical policies, including Medicare, have another glaring gap: they often don’t pay enough to cover care in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or for at home care. Short-term policies step into that gap by paying daily benefits while your client can’t perform two activities of daily living or suffers a cognitive impairment.

While benefit levels and policy details will vary here too, you can count on coverage for things like skilled nursing care, general nursing care, a variety of therapy services, and social services. Some plans might also include a prescription drug benefit. 

Be wary, though – these are called short-term care policies for a reason. Many policies will have a maximum benefit period of around 360 days. And, benefits won’t be restored until your client has been out of care for some time – sometimes up to six months. However, they can definitely help clients whose recovery windows fit into this range.

Why should agents add ancillary benefits to their portfolio?

Ancillary benefits round out your clients’ benefit package to protect their finances when the worst occurs. And, each of these products is commissionable and sellable year-round. That makes them perfect candidates to cross-sell outside AEP and OEP. Your clients will be thankful for better protection, and you’ll rest a little bit easier as you build the value of your book.