ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--To provide greater assistance to employees growing their families, Securian Financial—in a first among insurance carriers1—is adding “BenefitBump” as a value-added service.2 The BenefitBump service can be used with Securian Financial’s group hospital indemnity insurance issued by Securian Life Insurance Company.
BenefitBump improves outcomes for both employers and employees by helping growing families navigate their employers’ benefits and time off programs to build plans for balancing work and life. The program was designed for all paths to parenthood, including childbirth, adoption and families seeking fertility support. Participants are provided with education tools and live support from licensed emotional health clinicians.
“Employees expecting a new child are often overwhelmed with information and unaware of all the benefits available to them through their employers,” said Darin Reeser, regional director of supplemental health benefit sales for Securian Financial. “BenefitBump’s trained care navigators are experts in workplace benefit programs for expecting parents. They guide parents through the journey of growing their families—from pre-birth planning to post-birth childcare—while ensuring that they are maximizing their available benefits. For employers, this can be a powerful tool for retention, especially of working mothers.”
According to ongoing BenefitBump participant survey responses, 66% of participants say the service reduces stress and anxiety and 83% say it increases benefit awareness and utilization. In addition, a 2021 study of program participants found that 98% successfully returned to work.
Group hospital indemnity insurance is a workplace supplemental health policy that pays a pre-determined benefit to insured employees who experience a hospital stay covered by the policy. Employees can use the benefit to pay for out-of-pocket expenses not covered by their major medical insurance, or however they wish. With Securian Financial, insured employees do not have to experience a hospital stay to use BenefitBump. In fact, according to BenefitBump, since the service’s inception, nearly one-fifth of participants have engaged the service while family planning.3
Workplace supplemental health benefits on the rise
According to a study conducted by benefits broker WTW4, more employers are turning to supplemental health benefits to help protect employees from big medical bills and loss of income. The study, conducted between February 23 and March 12, 2021, found that among 238 organizations employing 3.7 million people, 42% offered group hospital indemnity insurance and 57% offered group critical illness insurance. By 2022, 65% of the organizations said they would offer hospital indemnity insurance to their employees, and 76% said they would offer critical illness insurance.
Additionally, LIMRA, a life insurance researcher and trade organization, reported recently that workplace supplemental health benefit premium rose 6% in 2021, to nearly $2.6 billion.5
A group insurance leader
Securian Financial offers group life, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) and supplemental health insurance products to employers nationwide. The company specializes in large public and private employer plans with 1,000 or more participants. Since issuing its first group life insurance policy in 1917, Securian Financial—through its subsidiaries, Minnesota Life Insurance Company and Securian Life Insurance Company—has grown to become the third-largest direct writer of group life insurance in the United States.6 The company is the top provider of group life insurance to state governments, 16, and has an extensive list of Fortune 500 employer clients, including 18 of the Fortune 100.7