Principal Financial Group 2009 Annual Report Download - page 19

n Choices for voluntary long-term disability insurance –
To help individuals protect their income, The
Principal began offering Voluntary Long-Term
Disability Employee Choice. Employees now have
two choices for long-term disability coverage—basic
and enhanced versions. Both provide sufficient protection
so living expenses are covered in the event of a long-
term disability, and both provide employees a lower
group rate and the convenience of payroll deduction.
n Key person disability protection – Our Key Person
Replacement insurance policy and Business Loan
Protection rider offer business owners two new ways to
insure their businesses against the threat of a disability.
n Key employee benefit satisfaction – As the economy
begins to improve, retaining key employees is critical
to the success of a business. A new white paper from
The Principal, Nonqualified Deferred Compensation:
Understanding Plan Sponsor & Plan Participant
Expectations, gives employers insight into what drives
benefit satisfaction.
n Key employee insurance rider – Business insurance
gives owners the flexibility to protect their business
or to offer the insurance as a benefit to their key
employees as a retention tool. Our new Surrender
Value Enhancement Rider on Principal Universal Life
FlexSM policies, gives business owners the option to
accumulate high cash value early in the policy helping
to preserve capital and create liquidity.
n Health care provider networks – We continue
to transition our group health business to a value-added
care management model. In 2009 we made significant
progress with key initiatives including building and
operating proprietary networks. Principal Edge NetworksSM
are now operating in Texas, Tennessee and most of
Georgia, with more planned for 2010. Through the
networks, we have more predictability and control over
claims costs, meaning we can price more competitively.
n Optimizing medical care – We’re also implementing a
medical care optimization model, increasing personal
interaction with physicians and hospitals across the United
States. The goal is to better manage the quality and cost
of care; already we’ve saved $20 million for customers.
n Lower dental costs – Recognizing a need for a lower
cost dental insurance option to ease the financial
strain of employers and their employees, we
introduced Network Select. Employees enrolled in
Network Select visit dentists who agree to discounted
fees and lower service costs. These discounts translate
to lower out-of-pocket costs for the employee and a
lower rate for the employer.
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n Tools to ease retirement plan administrative burden –
We unveiled new tools to help plan sponsors address
additional documentation associated with new Form
5500 requirements and retirement plan financial
statement standards for fair value measurement.
n Practice run to help 403(b) sponsors address new
requirements – In 2010, 403(b) retirement plan
sponsors face rigorous new reporting requirements,
including submitting a full Form 5500 and, for larger
plans, an independent plan audit. In 2009, we gave
them a practice run, providing financial data and
reports a year in advance—along with user-friendly
directions. This helped make the transition smoother,
as sponsors had a clear picture of what data they
would need to collect and how to report it.
n Automated tool to measure fair value of retirement
plan assets – Retirement plan sponsors have long been
required to understand and measure the fair value of
their plan assets. In 2009, they were required to take it
a step further by documenting how they measure it.
We provided an online, user-friendly tool—the Fair
Value Measurement Analysis Tool—to automate the
process and make it easier for financial professionals and
their plan sponsor clients to comply with the new rules.
HELPING EMPLOYEES AND INDIVIDUALS
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n Easier retirement plan enrollment – Our new enrollment
workbook features an easy, three-step approach to
help employees overcome the inertia that often
prevents them from saving effectively for retirement.
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