Happy New Year from Humana

[WiscBroker]

Dear Agent,
Humana values our agent relationships and deeply appreciates your continued service to our members. Business considerations at times require us to evaluate our commission structure in order to best meet our members’ needs.

Effective immediately, there are no commissions for any Individual Major Medical Plan with an initial effective date on or after March 2, 2016 unless noted in the chart below. The following Individual Major Medical Plans sold on or after March 2, 2016 will have the following commission structure:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzXN49kpE5AeYmdFbU0weTZSYW8/view?usp=sharing

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Turn out the lights, the party's over.

 

[tjharris]

Well in our neck of the woods in AZ this pretty much leaves BCBS as the only player left who is paying commissions at 4-5% depending on volume. Will be interesting to see when they make their new cut in commission announcement.

 

[russelltw]

Well in our neck of the woods in AZ this pretty much leaves BCBS as the only player left who is paying commissions at 4-5% depending on volume. Will be interesting to see when they make their new cut in commission announcement.

Same as in nc. Uhc, Aetna/Coventry, bx. Humana is off exchange, since they pulled their plans in nc right before aep.

 

[nwhpins]

Pushed us right out of health and right into life insurance 100%. The writing was on the wall when United said no more.

 

[Sherota1]

7 strategies for 2016 to help brokers get to 2017

I really think this article gives some good pointers. As commissions continue to drop it gives some food for thought. They say companies pay us to distribute their products not to service our clients which is something we all understand as agents. True we are disappointed when carriers (UHC, Humana) change the rules in the middle of the game but all contracts that we sign as brokers has the clause in one form or another “we reserve the right to amend this contract at any time with notice” (not in our favor). Our choice is to deal with it and stay or accept the new terms or go. They do not love you as much as they say they do. They only love the revenue you bring. They keep the revenue and dispose of anything that they feel does not add to it. Including agents and broker.

Most of the commission complaints since the ACA started is not about compensation for servicing our clients, it is complaints about not receiving compensation for what we have already produced. And the broken system of having NPN’s transferred correctly to the carriers to get properly compensated. I think with all other lines of insurance where the government is not involved we are pretty happy with what we receive.

Become a non-producing producer and you lose your appointment and all of your business that you placed with that carrier especially when they include in the contract that you cannot rewrite your clients or direct them to another competitor without consequences. They say it cost them money because they pay the appointment fees for their agents. That’s their personal choice. I do feel we work hard to bring them business and as other companies do they can choose not pay the appointment fee and let the appointment be suspended or go dormant with the chance to be reinstated once production resumes. Or as some other carrier do make the producer pay their own appointment fees in order to retain their appointment and control of their book of business. I do not see where this would hurt especially with companies who do not pay renewals. Having a name in a database to my knowledge cost nothing. I’ve had clients in my data base for years that literally cost me nothing but an annual service call. Most satisfied customers never call unless they have a problem. (ACA has been loaded with problems).

The insurance industry is there to make money for themselves we are just another tool they use to reach their goals. When a tool no longer serves your purpose you toss it out.

My take is we need to structure our business to benefit us and use and discard the companies that no longer benefit us. What Humana is doing is a trend. Good agents and brokers steer their clients to the best plan which cost the companies more money. Why because we want the best for our clients. And not giving them the best also has consequences for the agent. A navigator or customer service representative will steer the customer to the cheapest plan or will not choose a plan based on the clients needs. Cheap bronze = more money in the carriers pocket. Unsatisfied consumer + bad CSR advice= more carrier revenue+ Zero consequences (Who can sue or trace an alias). Everybody wins except the consumer who is too blind to see what’s going on. I could be wrong but I truly believe I’m not.

If as they say they cut commission because they are losing revenue. IF this is true they really will be gone from the individual health insurance market in 2017 but if they stick around they are being driven by a new tool, a production line that they do not have to pay for (uneducated, unlicensed, unbackground checked, untracable, alias FFM CSR's). November 1st 2016 will reveal the answer.

STAY TUNED

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Pushed us right out of health and right into life insurance 100%. The writing was on the wall when United said no more.

The writing has been on the wall since 2010. What rock you been livin' under??

 

[AllenChicago]

Humana announced 0% commission for all Illinois 2016 plans on Halloween. But they didn't say that they "appreciated us" in the notification.

 

[houcoogster]

The reason they sent it out on New Years Eve is they're trying to tell you to enjoy your cabbage and black eyed peas tomorrow because your going to be eating peasant food all year long...............LOL

Happy New Year Peasants!!!

 

[AllenChicago]

The reason they sent it out on New Years Eve is they're trying to tell you to enjoy your cabbage and black eyed peas tomorrow because your going to be eating peasant food all year long...............LOL

Happy New Year Peasants!!!

Great Correlation!

But unfortunately, it's true for those who depend on IFPlans as primary income.

 

[nwhpins]

The writing has been on the wall since 2010. What rock you been livin' under??

For the New Year try real hard not to be a dick, OK?