Streamlining the Employee Benefits Enrollment and Evidence of Insurability Process – Part I (9:02)
Integration allows for quicker decisions on coverage, enhancing the overall experience for both employers and employees
The enrollment process for employee benefits has become more streamlined over the years, yet challenges remain—especially when it comes to integrating retirement planning and evidence of insurability. Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey H. Snyder discusses ways to improve the evidence of insurability process with SS&C Technologies’ Michael Volpe.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
This morning on BRN, streamlining the enrollment benefit and evidence of insurability process and why it’s important for retirement planning, part one of our conversation. Joining me now to discuss this and a lot more, Michael Volpe is with SS&C Technologies. Mike, so great to see you, thanks for joining us this morning.
Michael Volpe, SS&C Technologies
And happy new year.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, new year, new technology, always appreciate you and the SS&C team coming on the program, talking tech and a lot more benefits. Michael, we just passed open enrollment for lots of different voluntary, involuntary benefits, health, retirement, etc. How challenging is the enrollment, open enrollment process today for employers and their employees?
Michael Volpe, SS&C Technologies
A great question, Jeffrey. From a purely mechanical perspective, the process has gotten a lot easier over the past 10 or 15 years. Newer technologies have really improved and enhanced the engagement of the employee in the process of making their benefit election.
I think where we have room to improve yet is in bringing much richer and more information to that point of sale, if you will, to better inform the employees on the holistic view of their benefits, not just their medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, but how that all factors into the long range planning, including retirement.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, I mean, you’re speaking my language. And I think that’s where directionally, I think the industry is going and I know that you and SS&C are really at the forefront of this. Let’s just talk about open enrollment.
Does it typically include retirement benefits? I know you mentioned them, but are they typically included as part of that conversation every, typically every fall?
Michael Volpe, SS&C Technologies
Increasingly, Jeffrey, they are. But again, it’s from more from an informational perspective. Once an employee chooses to participate in a retirement plan, almost all transactional activity happens between directly between the participant and the record keeper and the record keepers own technology.
But there are opportunities in the annual enrollment process to inform the employees, perhaps enroll them automatically if they had not chosen to participate previously, or to take advantage of newer legislation that allows automatic increases to the contribution level.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And, you know, I’m old enough, I guess, to remember the the forms, the enrollment forms. Once you make a selection, whether it’s through online or through the forms, does that guarantee and I guess I’m speaking specifically around insurance, life insurance, health benefits, etc. Am I automatically guaranteed to get the benefits I selected or elected, I should say?
Michael Volpe, SS&C Technologies
Most of the time, you’re not. There is a certain set level, depending on your industry, depending on your employer, there might be a level, say, one time salary or $100,000. And the industry refers to that as a guaranteed issue level of coverage.
But most employees have the option to elect above that guaranteed issue. And that additional or excess coverage remains an appended status until you can go through underwriting after you provide what is called evidence of insurability.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Okay, you brought it up. I’m going to ask you, I had not before doing research on this particular show, I had not heard of evidence of insurability. Michael, what is it?
And is there an opportunity here to streamline that determination?
Michael Volpe, SS&C Technologies
Evidence of insurability, at its simplest, is an application. For most group life insurance or voluntary disability insurance, it’s basically a medical history questionnaire. And when you fill out that questionnaire and submit it to the insurance company, then they go through an underwriting process and decide whether to approve that excess coverage or to decline it for medical reasons.
The process has improved significantly. For example, Jeffrey, in 2007, the insurance company worked with BenefitsXML about four years before we were acquired by SSMC to roll out a new online evidence of insurability system. And that has returned in tremendous improvements.
And in fact, this past year, we’ve exceeded the 2 millionth application process through the platform.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, I mean, that’s anything to make it easier. BenefitsXML, is that a hard lift in terms of implementation? So if another insurance carrier or someone else is looking to implement this, is it a hard, is it a heavy lift?
Generally not.
Michael Volpe, SS&C Technologies
The biggest part of that lift, Jeffrey, is to have our carrier clients go ahead and configure their proprietary application form. And those carriers have to satisfy regulators in all jurisdictions. So there are state-specific forms.
And we provide tools to make it easy to configure those state-specific questionnaires. And once that configuration work is done, adding new employer groups is a trivial exercise. And we can get companies up and ready for testing in a matter of hours rather than days or weeks.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
So are there other success stories you can share, excuse me, that might prove interesting?
Michael Volpe, SS&C Technologies
There are, and we’re pretty excited and proud of those, Jeffrey. So in the old days, when it was a paper process, the whole end-to-end from submission of the application to the decision could have taken months. But we’re seeing now the time to process for the EOI down in the days or hours or days on average.
We also are seeing automatic adjudication rates as high as 70% where the rules are configured to approve based on the responses to health questions, if you’re healthy and in good shape, then you can be automatically approved. And then the other part, Jeffrey, is that in the paper days, there was a really high abandonment rate. People did not want to fill out those paper forms and mail them into the carriers.
So what we’re seeing now, when the EOI process is fully integrated with the enrollment process, we’re seeing submission completion rates in excess of 80%. So it’s very exciting.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, it is very exciting. And look, you’re only hurting yourself if you abandon the application process. And I get a sense that it’s probably more than likely a lot of frustration.
But Michael, it sounds like things are on the right track. It’s 2025, people are implementing this new technology. And benefits are becoming a lot more streamlined.
Michael, we’re going to have to leave it there. This concludes part one of our conversation. Part two tomorrow, Michael, when you come back, we’re going to tackle whether or not this technology can be applied to retirement benefits.
Michael, great to see you. Thanks for joining us. And we look forward to having you back on the program tomorrow morning.
Michael Volpe, SS&C Technologies
Thank you very much, Jeffrey. We’ll see you.
Jeffrey H. Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And don’t forget to subscribe to our daily newsletter, The Morning Pulse for all the news in our website. And we’re back again tomorrow with another edition of BRN, part two of our conversation with Michael Volpe of S.Essencing Technologies. You’re not going to want to miss it.
Until then, I’m Jeff Snyder. Stay safe, keep on saving. And don’t forget, roll with the changes.