Hartford Financial's (HIG) New Product Expands Coverage

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. HIG recently launched a critical illness insurance product, which has the ability to bolster its coverage radar and provide several benefits to employees, taking into consideration the seriousness of the disease. Meanwhile, automatic coverage has been extended to the children of the employees availing of the newly launched product.

Covering more than 160 health conditions, the ambit of the covered health conditions of the critical illness insurance product has been expanded further with the inclusion of more infectious diseases, mental health conditions, neurological conditions and birth disorders. The new product does not restrict itself to catering to only serious illnesses but is also open to treating less severe health ailments.

Needless to say, the product offers benefits for most common claims stemming from health conditions such as cancer, heart attacks and strokes. Added benefits of the product include delivering partial benefits for less serious conditions, which makes it noteworthy.

The new product consists of flexible plan designs that employers can adjust to the evolving needs of their workforce. However, alterations made in the plan will not lead to a rise in the benefit costs. Meanwhile, the product intends to automate a portion of the claims process on the back of continued communications regarding benefit and service level options.

Product launches similar to the latest one reinforce Hartford Financial’s sincere efforts to bolster its voluntary product offerings suite, which forms part of HIG’s Group Benefits business. The suite provides critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity coverage to employees. These product offerings are offered through Hartford Financial’s Group Benefits business. In 2022, HIG is committed to boosting the market share of its voluntary product offerings.

It has to be noted that insurance coverages like the critical illness one are of vital importance these days. The reason can be attributed to the fact that such insurance coverage offers a lump-sum cash benefit when an employee gets diagnosed with a covered health medical condition. On the occurrence of an unanticipated illness, the lump-sum amount offers the beneficiary the required cushion of financial security and enables them to meet medical expenses like copays, deductibles or everyday costs. With a solid demand prevailing for critical illness insurance and other supplemental health benefits amid U.S. workers, Hartford Financial can capitalize on the prevailing scenario with the new product launch.

Also, the recent initiative can only be termed as a time opportune one since the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of employee benefits and shaped the workforce sentiment toward critical illness insurance plans. Per the Hartford’s 2021 Future of Benefits study, 29% of employers included critical illness within the benefits package, among which 84% of them added it, spurred by the pandemic.

Hartford Financial has been resorting to product launches or acquisitions to bolster its capabilities and strengthen its nationwide presence. HIG has undertaken divestitures to intensify focus on its U.S. operations and free up capital, thereby offering the insurer greater financial flexibility to pursue growth-related investments.

Shares of Hartford Financial have gained 29.2% in a year against the industry’s decline of 7.8%. HIG currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the insurance space are Horace Mann Educators Corporation HMN, Radian Group Inc. RDN and CNO Financial Group, Inc. CNO. While Horace Mann sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Radian Group and CNO Financial carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Horace Mann’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average being 22.80%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HMN’s 2022 earnings suggests an improvement of 1.1% from the year-ago reported figure, while the same for revenues suggests growth of 1%. The consensus mark for 2022 earnings has moved north by 8.4% in the past 30 days. Horace Mann has a Value Score of B.

The bottom line of Radian Group outpaced earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed once, the average surprise being 11.75%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RDN’s 2022 earnings suggests an improvement of 3.2% from the year-ago reported figure. The consensus estimate for 2022 earnings has been revised upward by 0.6% in the past 30 days. Radian Group has a Value Score of A.

CNO Financial’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 25.48%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CNO’s 2022 earnings has moved 2.1% north in the past 30 days. CNO Financial boasts a Value Score of A.

Radian Group stock has gained 14% in a year. Meanwhile, shares of Horace Mann and CNO Financial have lost 3.3% and 2.2%, respectively, in the same time frame.

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