Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 23 F E B R UA R Y 6 , 2 0 1 7 F O C U S G R E AT E R P O R T L A N D made big investments in using the web or mobile technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than having them come into an offi ce and meet in the cafeteria to sign up for benefi ts," Simonds says. inking longer term, he'd like to consider adding off erings to help employees with paid medical leaves and even further into the future, pet insurance. Tapping legal changes A new state law allows employers to take a $30 tax credit for each new employee signing up for either a qualifi ed short-term or long-term disability plan as of Jan. 1. It excludes employees who were previously covered. Piacentini was among those lobbying for the new law along with other insurers. While the chances of becoming disabled over one's career are at least one in four workers, and the copays or other expenses can eas- ily eat through savings for employees without insurance, Piacentini says there's a high cost to companies as well. "Most employers have diffi culty if a skilled employee loses their ability to work," he says. "Private disability will work with the employer to get those individuals back to work, saving the costs to fi nd, recruit, train and hire people to replace the person." Unum and other disability providers that have been trying to get out their message about the probability and cost of being disabled say the tax credit is an incentive to get more employees and employers on board. " e tax credit now encourages more plans to be off ered in the workplace," he says. More employees signing up also decreases the insurance premium for the entire group. He says the biggest opportunity for insurers now is small- to medium-sized companies, as the largest 5%-10% of companies already participate. Piacentini says there are safeguards in the new bill that set fl oors to benefi t levels for plans to qual- ify: 50% of income per month replacement longer term and $200 per week short term. "We've seen interest from brokers since Jan. 1," he says. "And accountants tell us the tax credit impact [of $30] is pretty signifi cant. It is 10% of the annual premium cost. at won't be the sole reason to off er a plan. But it defrays the cost and opens the door for employers to off er plans." Maine is the fi rst state to pass the tax credit law. Piacentini says Unum and other insurers pushed it there because the state is familiar with the disability industry. In addition, part of the reason $30 was set as the tax credit number is that it resonated with state lawmakers, who realized private disability helps off set the state's welfare system by protecting a worker's income, Piacentini says. He adds that, theoretically, the fi nancial impact of the tax credit for the 30% of people with disabil- ity insurance now would save the state's welfare cof- fers $4.4 million, but if insurers increase the number of workers with coverage to 49%, the state would save $7.2 million per year on welfare. "We think those numbers are low," he says. "We think this will have an impact on the state's welfare savings, which is important to lawmakers and the governor. We'll start to see results when taxes are fi led in 2018." Lori VaLiGra, Mainebiz senior writer, can be reached a t L V a L i G r a @ m a i N E B i Z . B i Z a n d @ LVa L i G r a We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile We've made big investments in using the web or mobile technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than technology to reach the distributed workforce rather than having them come into an office and meet in the cafeteria to sign up for benefits. — Michael Simonds Unum US president and CEO

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