Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), formerly ING U.S., on Aug. 20 announced that its employee-benefits business is offering the company’s Compass-branded accident insurance and specified-disease insurance (also known as critical-illness insurance) options to customers in New York state. Compass products are now available in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., the firm said […]
Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), formerly ING U.S., on Aug. 20 announced that its employee-benefits business is offering the company’s Compass-branded accident insurance and specified-disease insurance (also known as critical-illness insurance) options to customers in New York state.
Compass products are now available in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., the firm said in its news release.
The Voya employee-benefits business offers stop loss, group life, voluntary and disability-income insurance products to mid-sized and large employers and their employees, covering 4.4 million individuals, the company said.
The firm’s employee-benefits business covers more than 230,000 individuals in New York state, the company said in response to an email inquiry.
Employees of employer groups are able to purchase accident insurance, which covers hospitalizations and stays in critical-care facilities if someone is injured in an accident, says Lydia Jilek, vice president and head of voluntary products & insurance-exchange strategy for Voya’s employee-benefits business.
She spoke to the Business Journal News Network on Aug. 28.
“It is always sold in conjunction with or as a supplement to an underlying medical plan,” says Jilek.
Voya offers Compass accident insurance at five different benefit levels, she adds.
The firm designed the coverage to allow brokers and employers to “tailor it” to the employees’ health-care plan. For example, the benefit levels could range from $100 to $150 per day for a hospitalization.
“So employees who may have a rich medical plan are not overpaying for supplemental coverage and those that have a less rich medical plan are able to purchase amounts that can make a meaningful difference in their out-of-pocket expenses,” says Jilek.
Employers have the option to fund the plan for their employees following a move to a high-deductible health plan, or they can provide the option for employees to purchase their own coverage offered through the workplace.
The individual could use the benefit to help pay for medical costs such as hospital care, co-pays and deductibles, home health-care costs, or to replace income resulting from lost time at work.
Compass specified-disease insurance pays a lump-sum benefit following the diagnosis of several covered diseases or conditions such as heart attack, stroke and cancer.
These funds can be used to help cover various costs including mortgage or rent, utilities and child care.
“So, if somebody for example has a diagnosis of a heart attack or a stroke or a diagnosis of cancer, we will make a payment to that individual and it’s available for them to use however they choose,” says Jilek.
The demand for voluntary benefits has increased in the employee-benefits business as a growing number of employers look to these options to “fill the gaps” that rising health-care costs and the switch to high-deductible health plans generate, according to Voya.
ReliaStar Life Insurance Company and ReliaStar Life Insurance Company of New York issue the Compass products, Voya said.
Both firms are members of the Voya family of companies.
The company notes that Compass accident insurance and specified-disease insurance are limited-benefit policies and not health insurance.
They do not satisfy the requirement of minimum essential coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), according to Voya.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
