Dickerson - April 10, 2025

Anthem’s Licensing and Credentialing Team sent emails out to broker partners letting them know their Anthem Life and Health appointment has been terminated due to their Life being transitioned (4/2024) to The Standard. All brokers have been appointed by The Standard to allow them to support the business that was transitioned. Due to the Life being transitioned to the Standard and pending regulatory approval, Anthem Life Insurance Company (ALIC) and Greater Georgia Life Insurance Company (GGL) are being merged into Standard Insurance Company and Anthem Life and Disability Insurance Company (ALDIC) is being merged into The Standard Insurance Company of New York. In all states where business has been sold and remains active through ALIC, GGL or ALDIC, you will be appointed by The Standard (Standard Insurance Company (ALIC or GGL) or The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York (ALDIC), as applicable) to continue to service that business. Future appointment expenses will be paid by The Standard. Elevance Health will be terminating your appointments with the three entities acquired by The Standard, Anthem Life Insurance Company, Anthem Life and Disability Insurance Company, and Greater Georgia Life. You will receive notification from Elevance Health regarding this action. If you have questions regarding termination of your appointments or if you have new business to submit where a new appointment is required, please contact The Standard’s Client Success Team at clientsuccessteam@standard.com. For More Information or Help Quoting Anthem, Please Contact Your Dickerson Sales Rep.

Let’s discuss voluntary benefits and how benchmarking can help your organization design an attractive, cost-effective employee benefits program. How well do you know your workforce? How well do you know the marketplace for prospective employees? And how effective is your organization’s benefits plan in addressing the needs and priorities of the people you want working with and for you? Workforce variables Alera Group’s Employee Benefits team recognizes that workforce composition varies from business to business, from industry to industry, from region to region. The needs and priorities of workers at a midsize agricultural manufacturer in the rural Midwest, for example, are likely to be different from the needs and priorities of workers in the hospitality industry in the rural Southeast. And, at a time when the U.S. workforce is more generationally diverse than ever before, even within a single company the needs and priorities of Generation Z employees are typically very different from those of Generation X. This is where voluntary benefits — also known as supplemental, workplace or optional benefits — become so vital to an organization’s offerings strategy. Unlike mandatory benefits such as health insurance, voluntary benefits are typically paid for entirely by the employee, usually through payroll deduction and at a reduced rate compared to what is available for purchase individually through the open market. This enables employers to offer valuable coverages ranging from Life Insurance to gym memberships to Pet Insurance and more at group rates. Benefits benchmarking Alera Group’s Healthcare and Employee Benefits Benchmarking Reports take an in-depth look at the benefits businesses provide, the options they offer and the strategies they use to manage costs. Because market conditions and employee preferences can change rapidly — especially during times of economic upheaval — we publish a report annually, with our 2025 edition scheduled for release early this summer. We derived data and analysis in the 2024 edition from responses to a nationwide survey encompassing more than 6,200 employers, 14,000 medical plans and more than 1 million employees. Key findings include: Seventy-nine percent of group medical plans experienced a premium increase over the previous year. Among businesses with 500 or more employees, 55% switched to self-funding during the previous year. Eighteen percent of employers were offering five tiers of pharmacy coverage, an increase of 8% from 2023.(Benchmarking is also critical in determining a prescription drug formulary and managing costs, as we detailed in a previous Insights article, “Employee Benefits, Prescription Drugs and the Importance of Benchmarking.”) Work on the 2025 report is well underway, with findings based on a similar number of participating businesses across the nation. To Read More Click Here

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