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Aflac U.S.
Spreading Our Wings, Protecting Our Policyholders
We strive to accomplish our vision by remaining true to our strategy for
growth: expanding distribution channels and offering relevant products
to reach more accounts and customers. This requires being both proactive
and reactive to changes in the U.S. health care environment and workplace
demographics while also leveraging our strengths.
In 2013, we identified four strategic pillars to help focus our efforts on new oppor-
tunities to spread our wings and remain the leading provider of voluntary insurance
at the worksite:*
Improve and expand our distribution
Focus our product innovation
Own our customer experience
Strengthen our low-cost model
We believe focusing on these strategic pillars will afford us the opportunity to
increase our presence in the voluntary worksite markets and enhance profitability
going forward.
In 2013, new annualized premium sales for Aflac U.S. were $1.4 billion. While the
result represents a decrease of 4.3% over prior year sales, we believe multiple
changes and delays in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), in
addition to a stressed economy, especially in the smaller business arena, created
a challenging sales environment. With more than 90% of our payroll accounts in
the small business market, a general lack of optimism among small employers has
resulted in many of these employers remaining guarded in their hiring outlook, thus
limiting our universe of potential new policyholders. Additionally, ongoing uncer-
tainties around health care reform implementation have prompted many businesses
and consumers to delay decisions related to health care coverage. However, we
believe the need for our products remains very strong, and we continue to work on
helping our various distribution channels reach more businesses of all sizes. At the
same time, we seek opportunities to leverage our strong brand and product portfolio
in the evolving health care environment.
The longstanding vision of Aflac U.S. is to be
the leading provider of voluntary insurance at
the worksite in the United States – a position
we’ve held for many years.*
*Source: Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. U.S. Worksite/Voluntary Sales Report. Carrier Results for 2012.
Avon, CT: April 2013
20 AFLAC INCORPORATED 2013 YEAR IN REVIEW – AFLAC U.S.