Voluntary Benefits Communication

Date: April 5, 2022

Each year, working with our two brokers, National Group Protection and Design Benefits, AFA offers a variety of supplemental benefit products that have been negotiated with the various insurance carriers by our brokers and are intended to benefit our Membership based on their individual needs and financial circumstances. In order to offer these benefits to our exclusive Membership, AFA provides both of our brokers with Membership information as a way of defining the specific group of individuals at “United AFA” to whom these “group benefits” may be offered.

Each of these brokers are working very hard to earn the business from our Membership by offering the very best possible benefit packages and customer service. And, each of these brokers has their unique style of doing business. AFA supports the products offered by both of our brokers and ultimately recognizes that any decision to opt to secure these benefits is yours alone.

In some cases, we have received your feedback on the impact of the differing styles. While some of you have indicated you aren’t hearing from one broker, others report they feel as if the communication from another may be too frequent. While some report receiving communication by mail at home, others report having not received anything through the normal U.S. mail channels from one or the other of the two brokers.

These differences point out the challenges each of our brokers face as they work to develop a significant amount of business such that the rates they are able to offer for coverage are both competitive and serve our needs. And, it should not go unnoticed – each must do this work within the same limited window of time, this year from March 15, 2022 – April 15, 2022.

Communication on these benefit offerings comes directly from each of the brokers, not from the Union Communication Department. In order to offer the suite of benefits, both of our brokers must be provided access to the entire Membership in order for this to be a true group benefit offering. In the absence of being able to be in the bases to meet people face to face, we had to find an acceptable alternative that offered this same wide scope of access.

We want you to know that we have heard your feedback and we will continue to work with both of our endorsed brokers to meet your individual needs and to address any concerns you have identified. To this end, we have requested that the frequency of some communications be reduced and that each member receiving these communications is provided the opportunity to indicate a desire not to receive these communications going forward.

For more information about Allstate products offered through Design Benefits and CAIC products through National Group Protection, we encourage you to visit our website, which provides information on how to review the plans and contact the providers.