Aflac 2008 Annual Report Download - page 24

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20 Aflac Incorporated Annual Report for 2008
Benefits and Claims
(In billions)
Aflac paid or provided for
$10.5 billion in benefits for
policyholders in 2008.
women of all ages to lead a healthy and active
lifestyle, which fits perfectly with Aflac’s
interest in health and wellness.
Aflac Cancer Center: Fighting a Heartfelt
War Against Childhood Cancer
Since 1995, the entire Aflac family combined
has given more than $47 million to the
Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders
Service of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Recognized by Child magazine as one of
the top five childhood cancer centers in
the country for the last three years, the
Aflac Cancer Center maintains its strong
reputation as a national leader among
childhood cancer, hematology, and blood
and bone marrow transplant programs.
The sale of plush Aflac Ducks also provides
ongoing financial resources in the fight
against childhood cancer. Since 2000, we
have donated proceeds from the sales of
plush ducks to the Aflac Cancer Center. We
partnered with Macy’s department stores for
the eighth consecutive holiday season to sell
special limited-edition Aflac Holiday Ducks
to raise funds for 35 hospitals around the
country since the program began.
Employing Effective Technology
for Improved Efficiency
We continually adopt cutting-edge
technology solutions to streamline
transactions for policyholders and sales
associates alike. For the last 15 years, our
proprietary, laptop-based enrollment
system, has improved our ability to process
sales. Our newest version, SmartApp
Next GenerationTM (SNG), helps further
streamline the enrollment process. SNG
enabled Aflac to process approximately 67%
of policy applications in 2008 without any
human intervention. In 2008, 91% of our
applications for coverage were electronically
submitted using SNG and other Internet-
based programs.
We have continued to deliver technologies
that improve internal processing and
efficiency and provide consumers with choice
and convenience. At year-end, more than
126,200 payroll accounts, or approximately
30% of our total accounts, were using our
Online Billing system to reconcile their
invoices and submit policy service requests,
compared with 23% at the end of 2007.
In fact, over half of all new accounts are
paperless from day one, resulting in more
efficient and accurate billing, reconciliation
and service to our payroll accounts. For
consumers who prefer to handle their service
online, we also enhanced our Policyholder
Service Center at aflac.com. This improved
site enables customers to update personal
information, review their policy, check the
status of a claim and even initiate a new claim
online to expedite the claims process.
99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
$10.5
5.9
6.6 6.3 6.6
7.5
8.5 8.9 9.0 9.3
Japan U.S.