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Industry Spotlight > RIAs

FSI Rolls Out New Health Insurance Program for Indie Advisors

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What You Need to Know

  • The new program offers health insurance plans to advisors at a fraction of the cost of plans on the open market.
  • Plans are being offered at three deductible levels: $2,500, $5,000 and $10,000.
  • Also being offered is a bundled plan of long- and short-term disability and term life.

The Financial Services Institute launched a new national health insurance program that it said Wednesday provides a new way for independent advisors to obtain Affordable Care Act-compliant major medical health insurance plans for themselves, their licensed staff and their families at a fraction of the cost of plans on the open market.

FSI had announced a health care plan for advisors and staff in 16 states, along with separate non-health benefits offerings from Prudential Insurance, early last year at its annual OneVoice conference in San Diego. But FSI is no longer offering such small-group plans, according to Chris Paulitz, FSI head of strategic initiatives.

The new FSI health insurance program provides coverage at up to 50% savings through national PPO plans available in all 50 states that allow covered members to go to just about any doctor and comply with all ACA requirements, according to FSI.

Plans are offered at three deductible levels: $2,500, $5,000 and $10,000. These are also the respective plans’ out-of-pocket maximums, FSI said. Two of the plans are health savings account (HSA)-eligible and premiums are usually tax-deductible, it noted.

FSI partner Vault Strategies started a captive insurance company for FSI members as part of the health program rollout, according to Paulitz. “FSI members join the captive and control 51% of it,” he said.

Although the plans being offered are ACA-compliant, “they are 100% proprietary to FSI, and cannot be found on the open market at these rates,” he noted, adding: “For most advisors, our rates will be dramatically lower and the actual healthcare they receive will be better than what they currently have.”

Program Details

FSI members can choose from one of two options, he explained. “They either utilize the PHCS national PPO network, which is the largest physicians network in the country, or opt to work with AMPS, which pays doctors and hospitals using referenced based pricing, which drives fairness in pricing for our members.”

That allows advisors to see “any doctor they want, with nothing being out of network,” he said. “And because we are ACA-compliant, we adhere strictly to the ACA guidelines even though our prices are so much lower than typical open market plans.”

While “the beauty of the independent [advisor] model lies in the freedom it gives advisors to open their own business and run it as they choose,” health care premiums that are “larger than their mortgages can constrain their ability to reach their full potential,” according to Paulitz.

However, “our health insurance plans level the playing field for financial advisors and they no longer have to shoulder their burden alone,” he said in the announcement.

Advisors are eligible for the FSI plans as long as they have a federal tax ID, maintain a current FSI membership (which costs $199 for dues annually) and have an active CRD number.

They can learn more at FSI’s dedicated website, which includes answers to frequently asked questions, along with enrollment forms that enable them to see what their rates will be instantly and enroll in less than 10 minutes.

The health insurance offering is part of FSI’s CoveredAdvisor2.0 program that also provides advisors with access to long-term disability and term life/accidental death and dismemberment at rates unavailable on the open market, FSI said.

Also being offered is long-term disability and term life for advisors and a bundled plan for staff. The CoveredAdvisor Group has covered over 10,000 advisors in the past seven years, FSI noted.

FSI has more than 80 independent firm members with some 130,000 affiliated advisors.


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