New “How to Terminate Employee/Dependent Coverage” Flyer

A new flyer, titled “How to Terminate an Employee’s or Dependent’s Coverage” will be included along with May’s Billing Statements. In this flyer, we advise our clients to notify BEST Life of any terminations immediately.

Terminating coverage for an employee or dependent is easy with BEST Life.  Employers can do so by filling out a Termination Form and submitting it by fax or email.  BEST Life’s online administrative system also provides a way to submit a termination request directly online.

 In order to ensure that a client’s account is credited by the next billing statement, clients are advised to notify BEST Life of any terminations immediately.  Requests received after one month’s time will not be credited to their accounts. 

A copy of the notice is available for downloading:

How to Terminate an Employee\’s or Dependent\’s Coverage

Economical Times Call for Economical Plans

A recent LIMRA Study found that there’s a surprising resistance to cutting back on benefits by employers, with 8% actually planning to add a benefit.   So while cutting back on benefits is not the trend, finding ways to cut back on the costs of offering employee benefits is. 

BEST Life explores this trend in a free e-book called Economical Plans for Economical Times: Ideas for Updating your Group Insurance Portfolio.

Just click on the link above to download a copy.

3 Great Ways to Save Money: General Agent Flyer

In next month’s commissions, BEST Life is including a flyer that talks about the three different ways brokers can save their clients money.  We’ve made this flyer customizable so that you can include your contact information.  The flyer can be downloaded from our Sales Tools webpage at: http://www.besthealthplans.com/salestools.html 

Just go to the very bottom.  It’s the first flyer underneath General Agent Materials.

Now Offering EyeMed Discount Plan to Dental Groups with Ortho

Starting with groups effective May 1, 2009, BEST Life will automatically include the EyeMed Discount Plan for groups who elect ortho on their dental plan.

The EyeMed Discount Plan offers discounts for eye exams, lens options and add-ons (such as scratch resistance and UV coatings), contacts and even laser vision correction.  There are no limitations on how often these discounts can be used. 

Members can obtain these discounts through EyeMed’s network, which has access to over 20,000 locations nationally and include many leading optical retailers including LensCrafters, Target Optical, Sears Optical, JC Penny Optical and most Pearle Vision locations.

Members will receive an explanation flyer and a Summary of Discounts along with their BEST Life ID card. A BEST Life ID card will be necessary to obtain discounts.

New COBRA Subsidy Reminder

We just want to remind everyone that employers have until April 18th to provide notice and election rights to qualifying individuals.  Notice templates can be downloaded from the Department of Labor’s website: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/COBRAmodelnotice.html.

For questions about COBRA, call BEST Life’s Customer Service Department at 800.433.0088 or email at cs@bestlife.com. For information about how the new subsidy works, visit our blog: http://besthealthplans.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/all-about-cobra/

New Incentive for Voluntary Dental Groups

Effective April 1, 2009, BEST Life will offer voluntary dental groups who demonstrate above 60% participation employer-contributory rates.

To show your clients how much they can save, be sure to supply them the employer-contributory rates alongside the voluntary rates.  We will need a copy of the employer-contributory rates when you submit the new case.

If your group demonstrates above 60% participation, they will receive the employer-contributory rates.  Underwriting will determine eligibility based on actual enrollment.

If you have any questions, please contact your BEST Health Plans Sales Representative by email or call 1.800.237.8543.  For a listing of our Sales Team, visit www.besthealthplans.com/salesteam.html.

All About COBRA

In addition to posting a flyer we will be sending to BEST Life employer groups, we would like to share the following links from the United States Department of Labor.  Again, if your clients have any questions about COBRA, contact us at 800.433.0088 or through email at cs@bestlife.com.

Here’s our flyer, which explains to employers what the process is to enroll a former employee for BEST Life COBRA:

All About COBRA Flyer

The Department of Labor has flyers and posters for employers to provide to their employees.  All of these are written for the employee:

COBRA Premium Reduction Fact Sheet 

COBRA Premium Reduction Fact Sheet – Spanish

Job Loss? Poster

Job Loss? Poster – Spanish

More can be found at the Department of Labor’s website:

http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/COBRA.html

Welcome to our Blog!

We hope to offer you and the broker community insightful information for selling health, dental, vision and life insurance.  If you have a question, contact our Sales department at info@bestlife.com.