Aflac Leaps to Top of Insurance Broker Satisfaction Ratings

Percentage of brokers who prefer Aflac more than doubled in one year

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Jan 13, 2010, 08:00 ET

COLUMBUS, Ga., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- A survey of 358 brokers by business intelligence consulting firm Personified, finds Aflac is the number one preferred carrier for voluntary insurance among brokers. This represents a 16 percent increase over last year when Aflac, the number one provider of guaranteed-renewable insurance in the United States for more than 50 years, ranked fourth behind United Health Care, Principal and MetLife. In addition, the survey revealed a 25 percent increase in familiarity among brokers, the largest increase of any carrier.

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Aflac for Brokers(SM) -- a newly launched needs-based approach to benefits solutions designed to meet the varying demands of brokers' clients -- has yielded positive results on many fronts, including overall preference, satisfaction and familiarity. In fact, Aflac is recognized as the top carrier among brokers who are satisfied with their agent relationship, citing responsiveness and knowledgeable, professional representatives as the key reasons.

Bob Perasso, executive vice president, Employee Benefits of Northern California for USI Affinity, is among the brokers who have formed an alliance with Aflac, which proved to be a winning formula. "Today, USI's partnership with Aflac fits precisely with the delivery of our value proposition with current clients and prospects. That is a direct result of their increased attentiveness and understanding of our needs and our customers' expectations."

Ron Agypt, vice president of Broker Sales at Aflac, commented, "These findings are a testament to our greater focus and commitment to understanding the broker community, and our desire to contribute to their success by providing effective solutions and unmatched service. A wide array of competitively priced products, flexible enrollment options, and accurate and quick claims payment, combined with the strength of the Aflac brand have all contributed to our standing as the most preferred voluntary benefits carrier among brokers."

Components of the Aflac for Brokers initiative include the following:

Group Offerings: purchased Continental American Insurance Company to complement roster of individual products with group offerings. These include critical illness, accident, disability, whole life, mid med, cancer, hospital indemnity plus, hospital indemnity product and term life.
Single Point of Contact: created a new department of coordinators to provide one local, single point of contact for brokers, including a new per diem team to work directly with broker clients' employees and certified case managers to ensure successful enrollments.
Competitive Commission Structure: improved the compensation package with a broker-specific contract and a choice of advanced or levelized compensation.
Aflac WINGSPAN(SM): streamlined and comprehensive benefits management system designed for enrolling anything from voluntary insurance products to core benefits. Enrollment features include Web self-service, call center support or laptop-assisted enrollment.
New and Enhanced Products: designed to provide consumers, employers and brokers more options and flexibility in health coverage. New policies include Disability Income Protection Advantage®, lump sum cancer and lump sum critical illness; and the enhanced products are short-term disability and Accident Indemnity Advantage®.
aflacforbrokers.com: launched Web site featuring information about Aflac's products and services.

"We will continue to build valuable broker alliances and look forward to a great future with the broker community," said Agypt.

Survey Methodology

The Broker Satisfaction survey was conducted by Personified via an online survey of 358 brokers on September 25–30, 2009. Respondents were required to self-identify as brokers/producers, and have at least one percent of their sales attributed to voluntary worksite benefits. The final sample is representative of the U.S. population based on census data for age, gender, ethnicity, geographic region and household income.

About Aflac

For more than 50 years, Aflac products have given policyholders the opportunity to direct cash where it is needed most when a life-interrupting medical event causes financial challenges. As the number one provider of guaranteed-renewable insurance in the United States and the number one insurance company in terms of individual insurance policies in force in Japan, Aflac insurance products provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere magazine as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies for three consecutive years and was also named by the Reputation Institute as the Most Reputable Company in the Global Insurance Industry for two consecutive years. In 2009 Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the eleventh consecutive year. Fortune magazine also ranked Aflac No. 1 on its global list of the Most Admired Companies in the Life and Health Insurance category. Aflac appears on Hispanic Enterprise magazine's list of the 50 Best Companies for Supplier Diversity and on Black Enterprise magazine's list of the 40 Best Companies for Diversity. Aflac was also named by Forbes magazine as America's Best-Managed Company in the Insurance category. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL.