Is It a Lie

[VolAgent]

I personally explain, the Aetna companies ACI & CLI along with MOO companies.
If you look at the customer ID cards with Aetna. The Aetna logo in the upper left hand corner is larger than the total of space of the words- American Continental Insurance Company on the right side of the card, so what is brand message is Aetna pushing.

That has been my point all along. This sin by the agent is not that big, the company is busy pushing it and the agent is almost stupid not to follow along, with the caveat that you explain.

The real issue to me were the outright lies the agent told, about rate stability and how long the company has been in the Medicare field.

 

[JimmyCrappedCorn]

If they are the same company, why do they have to have different state filings? It's because they are two different companies with the same parent company. Western United even has a separate home office than Manhattan Life. The point is, Western United only recently started offering Med Supps in Georgia and there is no claims history on that product. And for anyone to imply that Western United has been in the Med Supp business as long as Manhattan Life has been is just lying.

Manhattan has a history of coming in low with their various carriers (Manhattan Life, Manhattan Life Assurance, Family Life and Western United) and within 2-3 years they are no longer competitive and raise rates on the current block pretty significantly. I have one client who is stuck with Family Life. They have averaged a rate increase of 9.5% per year for the last 8 years (starting premium 01/01/2010 was $125.24 - today it is $258.54).

As you may have read, this guy said something to Bob about 4% rate increases. Where do you think he got that figure? I'm willing to bet the agent mentioned it. I'd be willing to bet everything I own that over the next 5-10 years they will average more than 4%. Probably closer to twice that amount, if not more. I'm also willing to bet that Western United won't be a player in the Georgia Med Supp market 5 years from now.

Don't get me wrong, more and more companies are playing this game. But just because they have the same parent company doesn't mean they are the same company. They could sell off any of those companies tomorrow. For example, they could decide they no longer want to have Family Life's portfolio of products and sell it to another company. That would mean Family Life would be under a different parent company and Manhattan Life would remain. Same goes for any of the other holdings by Manhattan Insurance Group. They aren't the same company no matter how much you want to believe they are.

When I call Western United I'm talking to the same people down in Houston that I was talking to when I was called Manhattan 5 minutes before that. Same goes with Mutual of Omaha. All technicalities aside they are the same company.

 

[XpressInsurance]

The real issue to me were the outright lies the agent told, about rate stability and how long the company has been in the Medicare field.

I agree but it is getting more convoluted with Aetna, Cigna and other insurance companies that are starting to follow the MOO model of new books of business under different names when they want to compete for new business.

 

[JimmyCrappedCorn]

That has been my point all along. This sin by the agent is not that big, the company is busy pushing it and the agent is almost stupid not to follow along, with the caveat that you explain.

The real issue to me were the outright lies the agent told, about rate stability and how long the company has been in the Medicare field.

We live in a country where people don't seem to care much if the President was banging an intern in the oval office with a cigar or paying a porn star 100,000 dollars right before an election to be quiet about an affair. Good luck getting mister client all riled up because his agent misconstrued facts and statistics.

 

[JimmyCrappedCorn]

I agree but it is getting more convoluted with Aetna, Cigna and other insurance companies that are starting to follow the MOO model of new books of business under different names when they want to compete for new business.

You are correct it is getting worse. I think in 2020 they all might use the death of the "F" plan as a way to start new policies. We have seen that before.

 

[rousemark]

Its a tit for tat technicality. Its as simple as that. Of course they are the same company. Its just a way for a company to get around a law or regulation. The government regulation in simplicity states that after the first couple of years an insurance company must base their premium rates on actual claims experience. In short the government had to make that rule or Blue Cross and Blue Shield would sell their insurance at a loss for a few years and drive all the other insurance companies out of the market and then Blue Cross could charge whatever they wanted. So the Departments of insurance came up with that rule and Blue Cross figured out away to get around it. Blue Cross decided they would just invent a new policy after a few years and get around the rule that way. Blue Cross pulled this stunt for awhile and Mutual of Omaha decided they would do it to. So Mutual of Omaha started doing it and they now have morphed into 4 different names that are all still really Mutual of Omaha. Now we have other companies doing it to such as Manhattan. What this really means is that many of the companies are not making much money on these policies.

CIGNA is doing it also.. Cigna, Loyal American, ARLIC and now Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company (CHLIC)

 

[somarco]

And just like that, Jimmy full-of-crap corn is gone. POOF!

 

[JimmyCrappedCorn]

And just like that, Jimmy full-of-crap corn is gone. POOF!

I accept that I certainly should of came up with a more dignified forum name. However I don't see much dignity in a grown man having a peanuts cartoon for his avatar either!

 

[jdlash]

Oh crap, I just ran out of popcorn. I'll be back in a minute....