Most benefits brokers lose disability insurance revenue because they don't specialize in it. Hollowtree partners with brokers to deliver DI as a white-glove service -- you keep the client relationship, we handle the complexity.
Schedule a 15-Minute "Your Book" CallYou close health, dental, vision, life. But when it comes to disability insurance, you either skip it, default to whatever the carrier bundles, or hand it off. That's revenue walking out the door.
Most group DI plans for physician groups use generic occupation definitions and low benefit caps. The physicians know it. They're buying individual policies on the side -- or going without. Either way, it reflects on you.
We specialize in True Own-Occupation definitions that protect a physician's specific specialty—ensuring a surgeon is covered even if they can still work as a consultant or teacher.
Your employer clients with independent contractors need a compliant DI solution for their 1099 workforce. Most brokers don't have one. It's a gap your clients know about even if they haven't said it out loud.
Our 1099 platform handles individual premium billing and compliant group-rate access, removing the tax and administrative burden from the employer.
DI has its own underwriting language, its own carrier landscape, and its own enrollment nuances. Learning it from scratch takes years. Partnering with a specialist takes one phone call.
You're good at what you do. You manage health plans, negotiate renewals, handle open enrollment, and keep your clients' benefits programs running. Disability insurance is technically in your portfolio, but it's not where you spend your time -- and it's not where your expertise runs deepest.
That's not a criticism. It's the reality for most benefits brokers. DI is a specialty with its own carrier landscape, its own underwriting language, and its own enrollment dynamics. Treating it as a bolt-on to a health plan almost always results in a plan that under-serves the employees and under-performs on participation.
The question isn't whether you should become a DI expert. It's whether you should partner with one.
Most group DI plans use generic occupation definitions that don't protect physicians for their specific specialty. A surgeon who can no longer operate but could theoretically teach isn't "disabled" under a standard definition. The physicians in your client's organization likely know this, even if their HR team doesn't.
Many physician groups have a mix of W2 employees and independent contractors. The W2 physicians might have group DI through the employer plan. The 1099 physicians typically have nothing -- or they're buying expensive individual policies. Most brokers don't have a clean solution for the 1099 population.
When DI is designed by a generalist and communicated through a standard open enrollment, opt-in rates are often below 30%. That's not because employees don't want coverage. It's because the plan doesn't fit their needs and the enrollment process doesn't meet them where they are.
This is the part that matters most: we are not trying to take your client.
Hollowtree operates as a DI and LTC specialist that partners with benefits brokers. You introduce us to your employer client. We handle everything specific to disability insurance -- plan design, carrier selection, enrollment, administration, and ongoing support. Your client relationship stays with you. Your other lines of business stay with you. We don't touch health, dental, vision, life, or anything outside DI and LTC.
The model works because it's additive. You're not losing a client. You're adding a capability that your client needs and that you currently can't deliver at the same level. The result is a client who gets better DI coverage and a broker who looks like they have deeper resources than a generalist firm typically does.
This is a partnership, not a takeover. You introduce us to your employer clients who need better DI. We design the plan, run the enrollment, manage the administration. Your client relationship stays intact. Your book stays whole.
From plan design through live enrollment, we control the full stack -- broker, TPA, and technology. No handoffs to a third party. No delays. Your client sees a seamless experience that reflects well on you.
We provide a standalone, mobile-first enrollment experience that requires zero integration with your client's existing HRIS or payroll systems.
We're one of the only firms that manages both employed and independent physician populations in a single compliant enrollment. That's a problem your clients have and most brokers can't solve.
Every employer client with a weak or missing DI plan represents revenue that's sitting there. A specialist partnership turns that from a gap in your offering into a strength.
We brought Hollowtree in for one physician group and the enrollment went so smoothly that three other clients asked for the same thing.
-- Senior VP, National Benefits Firm (Partnered on 12 Physician Groups)
A 15-minute call is enough to walk through which of your clients might benefit from a DI specialist partnership and how the model works. No pitch, no pressure -- just a conversation about whether this fits.
Schedule a 15-Minute "Book Review" Call