Aflac and Standard Insurance are both well established companies with good reputations. Standard is the older of the two, established more than 100 years ago and serving 28,500 groups covering approximately 7.6 million people. It is not just an insurance company. It is a financial services company which offers insurance as part of its suite of financial services.
In addition to insurance, it offers annuities, retirement planning, and investing advice. Aflac is larger but younger, established more than fifty years ago and serving 430,000 groups. Aflac covers more than 60 million people worldwide.
It is primarily an insurance provider though it also offers related products like Flexible Spending Accounts. Aflac is the number one provider of supplemental health insurance in the United States and also the top provider of individual policies in Japan.
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Group Insurance Products
Aflac offers the following group insurance products available through employers:
- Accident Policy
- Critical Illness Policy
- Dental Policy
- Disability Policy
- Whole Life Policy
Standard offers the following group insurance products available through employers:
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment Policy
- Disability Policy
- Dental Policy
- Life Policy
- Vision Policy
Individual Insurance Products
Aflac offers the following individual insurance products, availsble either through a cafeteria plan with an employer or directly to the individual policyholder:
- Accident Policy
- Cancer Policy
- Critical Care & Recovery Policy
- Dental Policy
- Hospital Confinement Indemnity Policy
- Hospital Confinement Sickness Indemnity Policy
- Hospital Intensive Care Policy
- Juvenile Life Policy
- Life Policy
- Lump Sum Cancer Policy
- Lump Sum Critical Illness Policy
- Short Term Disability Policy
- Vision Policy
Standard offers the following individual policies:
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment Policy
- Disability Policy
- Dental Policy
- Life Policy
- Vision Policy
Comparing Price and Service
It’s difficult if not impossible to determine specific details about the policies and their prices from publicly available information. Price lists are apparently not published and, with insurance policies generally, exact prices are dependent on multiple factors such as the age of the primary policyholder and whether or not the policy covers spouse and children in addition to the policyholder. From information available publicly on their respective websites, both companies indicate their insurance is affordably priced and they both make an effort to keep premiums stable after you purchase the policy.
They both have at least some some policies which are guaranteed renewable provided you pay your premiums on time. (Aflac’s policies are all guranteed renewal provided you pay your premium on time.) Both companies indicate that they keep things as affordable and hassle-free as possible in terms of administration for the employer.
Descriptions on their respective websites give a more favorable impression of Aflac with regards to cost for the employer. Aflac states clearly that its policies can be provided at no direct cost to the employer and gives detailed descriptions of products which can lead to tax savings for both employer and employee.
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Accident Policies at Each Company
For comparison purposes of a single product, let’s look at each company’s Accident policies. Standard Insurance describes their group Accidental Death & Disability policy in terms which sound like it only pays benefits in cases of major, catastrophic events leading to serious injury (like loss of a limb) or death. Additional general information can be found on their website.
In contrast, Aflac’s group Accident policy is described as providing benefits for more than fifty events, including fractures, dislocations, hospital admission and physical therapy treatments. The individual policy indicates it pays benefits for broken teeth, concussions, and lacerations plus emergency room visits, ambulance, and confinement to an Intensive Care unit. Additional general information for their group or individual Accident policies can be found on their website. The Aflac website is much more legible than The Standard’s website. It gives brief overviews of every policy type in easy to navigate menus.
Company Websites and Web Services
While on Aflac’s site, you can check out some general information about their disability policies. You can readily find a brief overview indicating that group policies are guarantee issue at initial enrollment when plan participation criteria are met (in other words, individuals do not have to go through the underwriting process of filling out health questionnaires or taking a physical) and they provide income replacement of up to fifty percent of salary.
If you dig around a fair amount, it is possible to find some solid information on the site concerning their disability policies.
Both companies offer some web services for their insurance customers. Standard Insurance appears to offer primarily or only business related online services. For example, there is an obvious link for filing a group claim but no readily apparent link for filing an individual claim.
Aflac does allow for claims on individual policies to be submitted online and supporting documentation to be faxed in. Standard requires you to fill out their forms to initiate a claim. Aflac has claim forms avalable for your convenience to help you organize your claim information but claims can also be submitted with a handwriiten statement as long sufficient supporting documentation is also included.
Aflac also offers a wider variety of individual policies and promises greater portability of policies purchased at work. Overall, due to greater choice of insurance products, greater convenience, cost savings (to both employers and individuals), and ease of use, Aflac appears to be the hands down winner between these two companies. This may be why Aflac is the number one provider of supplemental health insurance products in the U.S.
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