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Alliance Gives Colonial Supplemental Insurance
Access to New Customers and Broker Distribution Network
COLUMBIA, S.C. (May 27, 2002) –– Colonial Supplemental Insurance
has formed an alliance with the Principal Financial Group®
that could put Colonial products in the portfolio of 15,000 more independent brokers in 37
states.
The alliance allows the Employee Benefits Sales and Service division of The Principal® to promote Colonial’s newest hospital confinement
indemnity, accident and critical illness products to its broker clients. Colonial will
also offer its benefits communication and enrollment services to qualified accounts of
these brokers.
The Principal already markets several supplemental products, including dental, group
disability and group term life. The alliance with Colonial grew from brokers’
requests for additional product offerings.
“The fastest and most efficient way to meet our customers’ needs was to
establish a relationship with another provider that has already developed high-quality
products,” said Mike Robinson, regional sales officer for the Employee Benefits Sales
and Service division of The Principal. “Colonial is known throughout the industry as
a leading supplemental insurance provider and a company we knew we could trust to help
serve our customers.”
Rapidly rising health care costs also played a hand in creating the alliance, according to
Frank Ferez, Colonial’s director of Major Accounts and National Strategic Alliances.
“The Principal has introduced a group major medical insurance design with higher
deductibles to help combat the recent jump in health care premiums. Colonial’s new
Medical BridgeSM hospital confinement indemnity plan fits
perfectly with this type of plan because it helps employees bridge the gaps in coverage
and out-of-pocket expenses.”
Medical BridgeSM supplements existing major medical
coverage by helping employees pay the medical and nonmedical expenses associated with a
hospital stay or outpatient surgery. These expenses may include deductibles, copayments,
child care or transportation to or from the hospital.
Through the alliance, Colonial will be able to provide its products and services to both
new and existing clients of The Principal. “This alliance will help more employers
and employees get easier access to the benefits they need and want,” Ferez said.
Colonial Supplemental Insurance is the marketing brand of Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company. Colonial is a market leader in benefits communication, enrollment and customer service while providing supplemental insurance to employees and their families at the worksite. A subsidiary of UnumProvident Corporation, Colonial is based in Columbia, S.C. and operates in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Colonial underwrites a broad line of insurance coverages, including personal accident and sickness, disability, life, cancer and critical illness insurance policies. Similar products, if approved, are underwritten in New York by a Colonial affiliate, The Paul Revere Life Insurance Company. For more information about Colonial’s products and services or opportunities with the company, call (803) 798-7000 or visit www.coloniallife.com.
Principal Life Insurance Company is a member company of the Principal Financial Group® (The Principal ®)1 . The Principal is a leader in offering businesses,
individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services,
including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance and mortgage
banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. More employers choose
the Principal Financial Group for their 401(k) plans than any other bank, mutual fund, or
insurance company in the United States2. A member of the
Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $120.2 billion in assets under management3 and serves some 13 million customers worldwide from offices
in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial
Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more
information, visit www.principal.com.
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