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Agreed. Blue Shield tells us most families they contacted valued their coverage and wanted to increase beyond basic bronze and silver plans. Anthem says their market research says most families will shy away from gold and platinum. Both use said research to justify their commission schedules.
Anthem's (and every other big health insurer's) market research also told them that they are going to be:
1. Selling policies that Cost 20%-80% more than they do today.
2. Adding many more customers to their block of IFP business.
3. Enjoying benefits of having a greater percentage of their customers saddled with higher standard deductibles...and even higher out-of-network deductibles, due to the downsizing of their provider networks.
4. Comfortable in the knowledge that the U.S. Government has pledged $10 Billion dollars to offset medical claim costs that go above a certain threshold.
5. Will be able to keep 20% of a MUCH LARGER revenue pie.
These items are on the other side of the coin.. The side that health insurers don't talk about when explaining how they arrived at our "generous" commission schedules. If anything, there should be a commission increase from 2013 levels. You can bet your sweet turnip that the people at the top will earn RECORD incomes and pay giant dividends to stockholders next year...just like they did in 2012...after our big 2011 commission cuts.
-ac