We would love to hear from you. Click on the ‘Contact Us’ link to the right and choose your favorite way to reach-out!

wscdsdc

media/speaking contact

Jamie Johnson

business contact

Victoria Peterson

Contact Us

855.ask.wink

Close [x]
pattern

Industry News

Categories

  • Industry Articles (21,155)
  • Industry Conferences (2)
  • Industry Job Openings (35)
  • Moore on the Market (414)
  • Negative Media (144)
  • Positive Media (73)
  • Sheryl's Articles (800)
  • Wink's Articles (353)
  • Wink's Inside Story (274)
  • Wink's Press Releases (123)
  • Blog Archives

  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • August 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • November 2008
  • September 2008
  • May 2008
  • February 2008
  • August 2006
  • Pet insurance experiencing ‘exploding growth’

    August 18, 2014 by Nathan Solheim

    While everyone’s howling at the moon these days about health insurance, a certain voluntary benefit no longer resembles that lonely puppy with sad eyes in the pet store that gets passed over by customer after customer.

    The benefit is pet insurance, which continues to grow in popularity with employees — and employers — around the country and at companies both large and small. There are a few reasons for the furry phenomenon: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is causing many employers to review their benefits packages, searching for ways to add value without adding cost. Another reason is competition. Plenty of employers offer the benefit, and with pet owners very well-represented in the workplace, it behooves companies to keep up with their competitors.

    “The headline is exploding growth,” says Deanna Single, director of group accounts for VPI Pet Insurance of Brea, California. “The Affordable Care Act, with its implementation this year, has companies looking more and more at their benefits and seeing they’re open to pet insurance. We’re seeing employees taking a greater interest in it as well. I think now that human resources departments are doing better at promoting available benefits, and with the changes in the health care market, [employers are] looking more closely than they have in the past to make sure they have the appropriate coverage for all areas of their life.”

    Single’s company, VPI, was the first company in the country to offer pet insurance, famously writing a policy for everyone’s favorite collie, Lassie, in 1982. VPI, according to company sources, provides pet insurance to one in three Fortune 500 companies and more than 3,800 companies as a whole.

    Chipotle Mexican Grill, Deloitte LLP, Delta Airlines, T-Mobile, Boeing and Xerox are just a few of the nation’s largest companies that offer pet insurance to their employees. Single says an internal VPI focus group puts pet insurance in the top three most requested benefits by employees.

    Petplan, another pet insurance provider, was among the top 50 on Forbes’ annual ranking of America’s Most Promising Companies — a showcase of 100 private, high-growth companies — in 2013 and 2014. Petplan conducted a survey recently that found that more than 98 percent of pet parents consider their pets to be part of their family.

    “Viewing it through that lens, it’s not hard to understand why pet insurance as an employee benefit is growing in popularity — in fact, it is now the third most-requested voluntary benefit,” says Chris Ashton, co-founder and co-CEO of Petplan, which is located in Philadelphia. “And with no cost or administrative burden to the company’s HR team, offering Petplan pet insurance is a great way to help attract and retain talent, while recognizing the indispensable role pets play in our lives.”

    The benefit has grown enough that a few companies now pay a percentage of their employees’ cost.

    “It’s not as widespread as we’d like it to be,” Single says. “But we have some employers that will pay 100 percent, and we have some that pay a percentage of the premium. Some employers offer a fixed amount that the employee can spend on whatever they way want — including pet insurance.”

    Pet insurance has even become part of private benefits exchanges. VPI is a part of Mercer Marketplace, for example. In this setting, employees can choose pet insurance from a menu of other voluntary benefits.

    “With the explosion of the exchange market, we’re in more benefits platforms,” Single says. “Just like the states had to come up with an exchange, private industry has responded in the exchanges. As [we are] the leader in the pet insurance market, they’ve been reaching out to us so employees will have access to us on the exchange. It’s a very exciting time — it’s a whole new area of benefits that’s coming to the market that didn’t exist 18 months ago.”

    According to a 2013 Towers and Watson study, 30 percent of companies offer pet insurance, which means the industry still has room to grow. Single says VPI is moving forward with new products — including a guaranteed issue product and a move into the finance market in order to help employees pay for expensive procedures for their favored furry ones.

    Ashton adds that there still are plenty of pets that could be covered.

    “With less than 2 percent of U.S. and Canadian pets insured — compared with 25–50 percent in some European countries — pet insurance is set for enormous growth as awareness develops, and employee benefits is one of the ways we do that,” Ashton says. “There are very few opportunities with such massive potential for growth as what currently exists in the benefits space.”

     

    Originally Posted at BenefitsPro on August 18, 2014 by Nathan Solheim.

    Categories: Industry Articles
    currency