News Details

Major Milestones in Growth of Benefits Solution for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Simply Unum, the integrated benefits solution for small to mid-sized businesses, is now available in every state in the country, and offers new voluntary disability benefits and funding options in 40 states and the District of Columbia.

On Monday, Simply Unum (NYSE:UNM) launched in California, Hawaii and Maryland - the final three states in the national rollout of the benefits platform.

And Simply Unum's enhanced disability offering, which features voluntary disability coverages and flexible funding choices, expanded to 40 states and the District of Columbia on Monday after launching in limited markets in October.

"The strong growth of this unique approach to benefits since its initial launch in late 2007 clearly shows us that employers are looking for an offering that combines benefits choice, funding flexibility, education and simple administration," said Andrea Gordon, vice president of the Simply Unum National Practice.

The enhanced disability offering

Enhancements to Simply Unum offer voluntary disability coverage for employees, and the new Benefit Credits^SM funding option. Benefit Credits allow employers to contribute a set dollar amount toward the purchase of coverage by their employees.

A small business that was struggling to balance rising health care costs and still provide life and disability coverage for its employees was one of the first customers for the enhanced Simply Unum offering in his market, said Bud Hebert, senior market manager for Unum in Dallas, which participated in the limited market release for the enhancements.

"If it hadn't been for the funding flexibility that the Benefit Credits model offered, and the ability to provide employees with voluntary disability coverage options, that employer would have had to make the difficult decision to cut the existing life and disability coverage altogether," he said.

"Particularly in this economy, the solutions that Simply Unum offers can be a crucial way to preserve valuable benefits through sharing costs and making them more predictable. The combination of increasingly broad benefits choice, funding flexibility and employee education offered on the Simply Unum platform gives us a very strong tool for helping employers solve the benefits puzzle."

Launching in California, Maryland and Hawaii

After seeing the success of the benefits solution across the country, Unum's offices in California are more than ready to offer Simply Unum in this critical market, said Tom O'Keefe, senior market manager in the San Francisco field office.

"All of us in California have watched as Simply Unum has become a continuously stronger offering," he said. "We are ready to be part of providing this solution that addresses so many benefit needs for both employers and employees."

The expansion of the ways Simply Unum can help employers and their employees, and being able to say Simply Unum is available in every state are the results listening and responding to the customers who have helped make the benefits solution successful, Gordon said.

"These are huge steps in the development of Simply Unum, but they are far from the last steps," she said. "A series of enhancements to Simply Unum will roll out over the next several years, building on the customer-focused offerings and flexibility of the Simply Unum platform."

About Unum

Unum (www.unum.com) is one of the leading providers of employee benefits products and services in the United States and the United Kingdom. Through its subsidiaries, Unum Group provided nearly $6 billion in total benefits to customers in 2009.

    Source: Unum