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Voluntary Plans Add Challenges, Opportunities for USAble Life’s Jim Casey

3 min read

Jim Casey joined USAble Life in 2008 as its chief operating officer. It has more than 500 employees and provides ancillary insurance, including life, disability and dental coverage. Casey serves on the boards of USAble Life; Florida Combined Life Insurance Co. of Jacksonville, Florida; United Concordia Cos. and Life & Specialty Ventures, which serves as the holding company for USAble Life; and Florida Combined Life. 

He received his MBA with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Casey became president and CEO of USAble Life and its holding company, Life & Specialty Ventures LLC of Little Rock, on Jan. 1.

You are also the president and CEO of Life & Specialty Ventures. Describe to the layperson what the company does.

Life & Specialty Ventures is a holding company that contains USAble Life and enables our unique joint venture model. We are owned by six Blue Cross & Blue Shield plans, including Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield. Our life, disability and supplemental products are available in 49 states and are branded USAble Life, except in Florida, where we also go to market as Florida Combined Life.

For dental, we work with our Blue partners to operate the business behind their brand — i.e., we take the risk and provide the product, network, call center and claims resources. It is a bit complex, but what our model does is allows us to complement medical plans with the range of essential insurance products that round out the benefits packages that many people get from their employers.

You became the CEO of USAble Life in January. What are your goals for the company? What unexpected challenges have you faced since becoming CEO?

We describe our mission as “making a meaningful difference” to those we insure when they need it the most. Our products provide benefits to people when they encounter a range of very difficult life situations, including getting into an accident, becoming disabled or losing a loved one. The proper insurance coverage can really help people through these circumstances by providing financial security, particularly when income is lost.

My chief goal is for our team to do an excellent job of providing this security from how we design products to how we pay claims. We deliver our products through select distribution partners — primarily Blue Cross & Blue Shield plans — so it is essential for us to work closely with them to meet our customers’ needs.

The most surprising challenge I have faced since becoming CEO is the constant demand on my time and making sure that doesn’t inhibit my ability to be visible and available to our great team of employees. Also, I have to work a little harder to solicit contrary opinions on strategy and tactics.

Where do you see the company’s growth coming from in the next few years? How do you plan to get more people insured?

Well, our nation’s population is very much underinsured — and not just on health but also life and especially disability — but the industry has struggled to convince people of the need.

Insurance is largely sold through the workplace as an employer-paid or subsidized benefit, but things are changing. Voluntary benefits that employees must fully or partially pay for are increasingly common. So the challenge, but also the growth opportunity, is to address this market that is increasingly driven by the consumer, both in and outside the workplace. We are working hard to build the technology and processes to meet the market need.

More broadly, we have strong partnerships with a handful of Blue plans, and we believe there is much growth to be had by better connecting our offerings with their medical products to deliver a stronger value proposition to the market.

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