Any Group Health Agents Work Successfully With An Aflac Rep?

[Josh]

Considering the growing popularity of high deductible plans and how well they work indemnity plans, has anyone here successfully worked with an Aflac rep? As it sits now we've started doing group health and it's been going well, but we're finding it's easier to just have the conversation with the employer about the high deductible plan and then letting the employees opt-in for an indemnity plan. The idea would be to let the Aflac rep do the voluntary benefits after we write the group to avoid any confusion during the sale and give the employees the option of filling in the initial deductible with a plan like that. This would let us focus more of our time and efforts on working the group business rather than trying to pitch each employee on the voluntary. Maybe it'd be better to work with Colonial, but does the concept of having someone else do the voluntary make sense or not so much?

 

[ABC]

I would say you are doing the right approach.

I always broker out Aflac. My time is valuable so I really do not want to sit there and do individual enrollments.

If you work with Aflac you will need to stay on top of them from a billing standpoint. The sales reps need encouragement to resolve any billing issue. Also being a group broker you want to advise on what Aflac plans should be offered. Do not let them go in with 12 plans. Narrow it down to about 4 tops.

The only plan Aflac has that is good is the Cancer policy. All the other plans if you do the math does not make sense.
The plan for the H.S.A plan is horrible the client is better off putting that money into the HSA account.

just my .02

 

[DS4]

I brought in Aflac on several of my group cases. Never again!
Because of unsolvable billing issues w/Aflac, I lost a 1400 ee hospital.

 

[Labman]

The last I heard AFLAC does not have a medical bridge product. Colonial has a pretty good one. Save yourself a LOT of headaches and interview a Colonial agent before you go with the duck.

 

[Josh]

I brought in Aflac on several of my group cases. Never again!
Because of unsolvable billing issues w/Aflac, I lost a 1400 ee hospital.

I think it was kind of you to not burn the agents house to the ground while they were sleeping in it.

 

[ABC]

I brought in Aflac on several of my group cases. Never again!
Because of unsolvable billing issues w/Aflac, I lost a 1400 ee hospital.

OH man that hurts

I have had major billing problem with Aflac and quit selling them.

I looked at colonial but the problem with them is they are not bringing large enough savings to the table. Their plans are a bit richers but not enough to justify the switch.

 

[Labman]

The savings with Colonial vs Aflac depends on which products are being discussed. I just reviewed a bill from AFLAC for a client and one person was paying over a hundred dollars monthly for a cancer policy. Just plain ridiculous. Most complaints I hear from biz owners is servicing and billing issues.

 

[capstone]

Find a Colonial agent you will find this a better fit. There are multiple reasons to use them here are a few. Let me put the disclaimer out here. My wife is a district manager with them and I leverage them to bring extra value to the table for my group business.

1. Higher commissions
2. Product flexibility (group issue)
3. Less agent turn over
4. They are broker friendly
5. Leveraging colonials ability to enroll multiple carrier products on their enrollment system.
6. Hidden pay check analysis

If you need clarification let me know.

Justin

www.capstoneinsurancegroup.com

 

[ABC]

Find a Colonial agent you will find this a better fit. There are multiple reasons to use them here are a few. Let me put the disclaimer out here. My wife is a district manager with them and I leverage them to bring extra value to the table for my group business.

1. Higher commissions
2. Product flexibility (group issue)
3. Less agent turn over
4. They are broker friendly
5. Leveraging colonials ability to enroll multiple carrier products on their enrollment system.
6. Hidden pay check analysis

If you need clarification let me know.

Justin

www.capstoneinsurancegroup.com

Justin you make some valid points about colonial but there are still problems with this ancillary business model.
See the agents we brokers work with either with Aflac or Colonial are out to make sales. They do not have or allocate enough time to servicing clients.

That is just the way it is

 

[stuy119]

Justin you make some valid points about colonial but there are still problems with this ancillary business model.
See the agents we brokers work with either with Aflac or Colonial are out to make sales. They do not have or allocate enough time to servicing clients.

That is just the way it is

That's a fair issue you bring up, but having started in the voluntary world, there's a major difference - the Home Office/Customer Service center.

Both companies started around the late 50's. Aflac grew quickly, far too quickly for their back end to support the work that was coming in (500% growth since the duck commercials started). Colonial has grown steadily (10% per year) and has increased the number of service people just as steadily.

For a broker, Colonial is willing to bend over backwards (and even eat some premium) to make the broker happy and keep the relationship moving forward. Aflac doesn't give a f&@$ whether the broker is happy or not, and they're willing to cut the broker out once they've gotten positioned into a case.