US Group and Voluntary Employee Benefits: Changing Markets, Changing Technology

Celent delves into the implications the Affordable Care Act, depressed interest rates, and aging Gen X/Y consumers will have for group and voluntary insurers as markets consolidate, requirements shift, and consumers set a new standard for service.

In the report, US Group and Voluntary Employee Benefits: Changing Markets, Changing Technology, Celent explores the impact regulatory, demographic, and financial changes are having on distribution, service, and supporting technology in the benefits space. This report analyzes new and changing distribution models, standards of service, and the impact on IT departments with aging application architecture and systems.

“As the group and voluntary insurance markets converge, changing distribution and service models will strain IT application architectures and legacy systems past the breaking point,” says Chuck Johnston, Director, Americas Life/Annuity & Group Practice with Celent’s Insurance Group and author of the report. “Insurers and brokers have underinvested in Group and voluntary insurance solutions over the last 20+ years, and will struggle to meet new market requirements.”

This report sets the stage by examining group and voluntary market structures, including market segments and value chain players. It then focuses on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on insurance products and distribution models, detailing the disruptive effects of state/federal exchanges on current distribution models, and how “shelf space” is managed. Finally, the report discusses critical technology issues that arise from meeting the requirements of evolving group insurance business models, setting the stage for a series of technology-focused reports for the group market.

This 22-page report contains six figures.