Insurance Agent Forum

[somarco]

Nope, not the TPA. The MGU is the one that crashed.

Call me sometime if you want a "crash course" in self funded plans. I have been out of it for some time and can't tell you who the players are any more, but I can give you some pointers.

[Phil C.]

Does anyone know how I can find a General Agency that handles group health insurance in the state of Illinois? I have searched via the internet with no success.

[drew28973]

A good book for employee benefits is

Employee Benefits by Burton T. Beam jr and John Mcfadden

Its a little pricy but you can often find it on half.com for a decent price.

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[IAC.Ryan]

Originally Posted by Phil C.

Does anyone know how I can find a General Agency that handles group health insurance in the state of Illinois? I have searched via the internet with no success.

Depending on what part of Illinois - I have a couple of GA's I've worked with. PM me if you'd like their contact info.

[SC Local LAH Agent]

I am looking for a GA here in SC to help me add group plans to what I offer. Seems benefit-mall doesn't not do group here in SC. Also having a hard time getting the local Rogers Benefits office to call me back. Any ideas?

[Executive Benefits]

Try Excelsior

[Delta76]

It's excellent info, however the practical application of the concept is a little more difficult than Professor Pilzer (as he calls himself) lets on...

I also think it's a great concept, but it's more of a niche solution that usually doesn't fit very well. Some of the practical hiccups include:

-Health issues in the group and the state risk pool rules/rates: My state is very favorable as far as the risk pool is concerned, but the state threatens against terminating a group to put participants in the risk pool.

-Discrimination rules: It would be great if you could terminate a group and have every employee purchase the same individual policy and reimburse them for exactly what their premiums cost. However, it has to be an equal amount for every employee or an equal % of compensation. Therefore, the premiums go much further for a 20 year old than a 55 year old. Yes you can get creative as far as segregating "classes" of employees, but it doesn't always work. This alone has been the main road block for me.

I find the concept typically works best for smaller, healthier groups with most employees being similar in age. I read this post this morning, but I decided to make a comment after I got off the phone with a client that we used this concept for two years ago. It has worked great for him as one employee got cancer this last year and he missed the huge table increase that would have happened had he kept the group plan, but unfortanetly I still have to resell him on it each year.

Plus, there is more service work involved. Every time an employee hits an age increase or their individual plan premiums go up (which happens at different points in the year as different employees have different carriers), the Sect. 125 plan amounts need to be changed. The employer usually doesn't have a clue, so it's up to the broker to assist and it does take a little extra hand holding. The good part of all this, the group is extremely tough to steal by the competition.

[cdpowell]

If I had to learn the group health market over again, I would contact a General Agent that represents multiple companies. I would attend agent training meetings for each of the carriers, meet successful producers and pick their brains. Some will be helpful, some not. Certainly the General Agent will be able to help answer questions.

Easiest way is this:


L. Get a company census. This is the only hard part of the job. Customers think this can be done without a census. It can't. You have to get a list of employees and ALSO if the employee has one or more spouses and/or children....hey this is 2008...we never know how many spouses there can be, right? We need to know if the spouse is covered under their employer plan or not. Find out HOW MANY kids there are. Next to the employee name, write down if they are male or female....no joke ---I know this sounds stupid.

Send the census in to your companies of choice. Get the quotes back from them. The carriers will call you and work out the quote with you. They will help you understand their plans. That is their job.....to be sure you understand the plan so you can sell it....some of them will go out and sell it for you.....no charge.

Now that you have the quotes back, make a spreadsheet. On the top of the spreadsheet label your companies you will be comparing-for example, Blue Shield, Aetna, etcetera.

On the left side of the page in a column, list all the benefits listed in one of your companies----say Aetna-----e.g. Deductible, copayment, mental health benefit/inpatient, outpatient, maximum days for mental health, prescription copayment, etcetera. This list should have 30 to 50 items in it....(or if you're in California, closer to 400,000 items.)

Then fill in the boxes and you have yourself a spreadsheet. If you can't fill in the boxes, call the carriers and ask them what goes in their box. Now you stack up all the proposals the carriers sent you...make a big pile....and go see the prospective customer. Go over the spreadsheet with them and carry in the pile of stuff. Tell them you have read all the stuff and it is summarized on the spreadsheet. Tell them the reputation of the carrier is ultimately important and they will look at the prices at the bottom of the spreadsheet and they will pick a plan.

Then you leave the customer a pile of individual enrollment materials or you can do the enrollment yourself or the carrier will help you. You fill out the master application with the customer and collect one month's premium check. Give all this to the carrier and they will go from there with you. All the while keep in contact with the carrier.

[Delta76]

Karenabcde,

Good post for outlining the process. One major thing before you do all of that, make sure the business is willing to work with you if you can help them. Below can be a lot of work to find out the owner's brother in law is their current broker.

Hi Delta 76-


Willing to work with me....? Little ole me? I assume none of them are willing to work with me. I am just a peon accumulating data and showing the data to as many people as I can because in my case for a group of 4 and over employees I would sell 1/14 presentations. I didn't know who those people would be.

I called one controller for three years. I never had an appointment for three years. Then one day he let me in. I piled up my data and presented it to him just like I would the other 13. Lo and behold the heavens parted...the customer bought, and I had the group benefits for 15 years and netted over $150,000 from them..over the years... now all you bigshots I know can do much better. But that was my best sale and continues to be.

The only thing I assume is that my one in fourteen ratio holds steady. I assume they all get the same level of presentation.....the best I can give them......the brother in law may decide to fail out of the business.....I made a presentation recently to an 84 year old lady whose grandson who just failed out of the biz and spoke for her during the interview; he told me she had to "evaluate her options" on a little final expense plan. Well, she called me up the next day when he wasn't around and she said she wanted the plan. Happy for me. $3300 in my pocket from her the next week.

Your point is well-taken....but really, if they say their brother-in-law is going to show them a plan, then you make sure you show them the better plan....the best rate, the most professional presentation.....they will buy from you because it's THEIR MONEY and a lot of them understand keeping the money arm's length from the brother-in-law, the grandson, the everybody else.

[kdr406]

Benefitmall.com has agreat agent quoting tool.

[InsureGuy5]

Finding the right up-line is key if your new to the market. Let them handle the quoting process until you are comfortable with it. It is certainly more complex and time consuming than term life insurance.

[xcccyk]

Quick Group Health question...I have a client looking for a group health plan in KY. He is a builder and is interested in a plan through the Home Builders Assoc. w/ Anthem. I found a broker who can meet his needs, but before I contract w/ him I need to know what the standard commissions would be to his agency. He has offered to split the agency commission 50/50 w/ me since I have a health license...and the buyer will not participate if I am not involved due to a strong, client relationship. The assumed premiums will be about $360,000 per year (50 employees)...What is the normal commission pay/range for a plan of this size. Looking for a range to make sure I can trust a partner in future deals in KY & OH. Thanks!

[ABC]

Originally Posted by xcccyk

Quick Group Health question...I have a client looking for a group health plan in KY. He is a builder and is interested in a plan through the Home Builders Assoc. w/ Anthem. I found a broker who can meet his needs, but before I contract w/ him I need to know what the standard commissions would be to his agency. He has offered to split the agency commission 50/50 w/ me since I have a health license...and the buyer will not participate if I am not involved due to a strong, client relationship. The assumed premiums will be about $360,000 per year (50 employees)...What is the normal commission pay/range for a plan of this size. Looking for a range to make sure I can trust a partner in future deals in KY & OH. Thanks!

4.5 % comp



If you are in KY why have not looked at Humana? They own the market there. There rates should be about 14%-18% cheaper than anthem.
If you look at there gate keeper (HMO look a like) plan it has an even higher savings.