- 5,056
You know there darker side of my personality, say screw the clients they voted this all in - it's what they all wanted ! " No Pre-Ex" .
What's the Scoop Health Guys?
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- 8,448
If your appendix is poisoning the rest of our body, you'd want that organ removed ASAP.
Every health insurer participating in the ObamCare IFP business, is being poisoned by it. The "bailout" medicine promised by the Feds turned out to be only 12% pure. (Insurers got only 12% of the $$$ the govt promised them.)
But, since the vast majority of ObamaCare enrollees "signed up" without any help from a compensated agent, health insurers will soon learn that getting rid of us didn't help.
The end is near for most of their Individual Health divisions, but the corporation overall will be thankful, and much better off. That's what Assurant's "looking ahead" statement to investors is predicting, now that the company has rid itself of ObamaScrew poisoning.
I'm sure Aetna, Coventry, United Health, Humana, etc.. are looking forward to being able to say the same thing as Assurant, in their 3rd Quarter "looking ahead" statements, later this year.
- 1,432
Not having to deal with underwriting is a plus. However it in no way makes up for the many minuses.
The first year was OK even though I lost a lot of my book. I rewrote a lot of my pre-ACA clients but lost a big chunk. My advertising budget just couldn't compete with the media blitz. A lot of my clients didn't realize that they could continue to buy through an independent agent and went directly to the HIX.
But I sold a lot of new cases and my lead generation business did well. I made a good buck and took a lot of time off during the first off season.
The second year the market adjusted in the lead generation space; the easy money was not there during the second OEP.
And I learned that we would need to help our clients renew their policies.
However, I still sold a lot of policies during the 2015 OEP. Things still seemed OK.
Then they started cancelling people who didn't submit their pay stubs or other verification documents. I lost a ton of time helping my clients reinstate their policies. I could have had a lot more fun in 2015 or made a lot more money if I didn't have to spend so much time creating tickets and hounding the HIX to reinstate policies or to fix something else.
I expected to work my butt off during the 2015 OEP (I was available to clients by phone from 7a to midnight most days and often worked longer) but also expected to have extra money and free time during the off season to compensate for the hard work. I took my usual vacations, but never really had an off season.
The combination of horrid persistency and the extraordinary amount of service work HIX business requires meant that I couldn't cross sell, resuscitate my lead gen business or do much of anything else. I made about half of what I expected to make in 2015.
During the current OEP, the Connecticut HIX made changes to enhance security. This had the unfortunate side effect of making the enrollment process take two to four times as long on average when compared to the previous years.
Also the agents are not protected as we should be. Our names and contact information appear nowhere on the renewal letters and if the HIX' computer problems makes it easier for the HIX rep to start a new account to service an existing client, we often lose our commissions. Plus, it is far too easy for another agent to become the BOR.
More people are hurt than helped by the ACA. There is certainly a population that is served better by this system than the old one. Those who couldn't be underwritten are being helped. However almost everyone who doesn't qualify for APTC is paying more than they would have in the old system even if you adjust for inflation.
In addition:
(As a side note, the MLR gives the insurance companies a perverse incentive to encourage us to get sicker and sicker since the more claims filed, the more they can charge. There is nothing in the ACA that does a damn thing to make us healthier. Early intervention is not prevention.)
This will be my last year aggressively seeking new HIX clients. I will continue to service my existing book and will graciously accept and work referrals, but individual health will no longer be my primary line of insurance.
Selling HIX policies might be a good idea for new or struggling agents. I could see a newb picking up two or three hundred clients with the intent of trying to cross sell them.
When I started in the business in 1985, my goal was to have 1,000 clients. It took me a long time to reach that goal, but I did it. I think that is about the limit one agent can service without support staff.
However, with my current mix, 1,000 is too many clients. In the future the AEP and the OEP will occur simultaneously. This means properly servicing 1,000 clients is impossible if more than a few hundred are health or MA clients.
So I and a bunch of other agents previously committed to health insurance have to reinvent ourselves. I think I have enough energy to do it but just barely.
The truth is...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqBNSMbEzI0
The first year was OK even though I lost a lot of my book. I rewrote a lot of my pre-ACA clients but lost a big chunk. My advertising budget just couldn't compete with the media blitz. A lot of my clients didn't realize that they could continue to buy through an independent agent and went directly to the HIX.
But I sold a lot of new cases and my lead generation business did well. I made a good buck and took a lot of time off during the first off season.
The second year the market adjusted in the lead generation space; the easy money was not there during the second OEP.
And I learned that we would need to help our clients renew their policies.
However, I still sold a lot of policies during the 2015 OEP. Things still seemed OK.
Then they started cancelling people who didn't submit their pay stubs or other verification documents. I lost a ton of time helping my clients reinstate their policies. I could have had a lot more fun in 2015 or made a lot more money if I didn't have to spend so much time creating tickets and hounding the HIX to reinstate policies or to fix something else.
I expected to work my butt off during the 2015 OEP (I was available to clients by phone from 7a to midnight most days and often worked longer) but also expected to have extra money and free time during the off season to compensate for the hard work. I took my usual vacations, but never really had an off season.
The combination of horrid persistency and the extraordinary amount of service work HIX business requires meant that I couldn't cross sell, resuscitate my lead gen business or do much of anything else. I made about half of what I expected to make in 2015.
During the current OEP, the Connecticut HIX made changes to enhance security. This had the unfortunate side effect of making the enrollment process take two to four times as long on average when compared to the previous years.
Also the agents are not protected as we should be. Our names and contact information appear nowhere on the renewal letters and if the HIX' computer problems makes it easier for the HIX rep to start a new account to service an existing client, we often lose our commissions. Plus, it is far too easy for another agent to become the BOR.
More people are hurt than helped by the ACA. There is certainly a population that is served better by this system than the old one. Those who couldn't be underwritten are being helped. However almost everyone who doesn't qualify for APTC is paying more than they would have in the old system even if you adjust for inflation.
In addition:
- It increases the marriage tax.
- Creates a big disincentive to earn more money if your income is close to the subsidy limit.
- Is a major time suck for both consumers and agents.
- Forces consumers to guess their future income. With major penalties for guessing wrong.
- Forces agents to give what amounts to tax advice.
(As a side note, the MLR gives the insurance companies a perverse incentive to encourage us to get sicker and sicker since the more claims filed, the more they can charge. There is nothing in the ACA that does a damn thing to make us healthier. Early intervention is not prevention.)
This will be my last year aggressively seeking new HIX clients. I will continue to service my existing book and will graciously accept and work referrals, but individual health will no longer be my primary line of insurance.
Selling HIX policies might be a good idea for new or struggling agents. I could see a newb picking up two or three hundred clients with the intent of trying to cross sell them.
When I started in the business in 1985, my goal was to have 1,000 clients. It took me a long time to reach that goal, but I did it. I think that is about the limit one agent can service without support staff.
However, with my current mix, 1,000 is too many clients. In the future the AEP and the OEP will occur simultaneously. This means properly servicing 1,000 clients is impossible if more than a few hundred are health or MA clients.
So I and a bunch of other agents previously committed to health insurance have to reinvent ourselves. I think I have enough energy to do it but just barely.
The truth is...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqBNSMbEzI0
This was one of my biggest beefs with Ocare. Everything that came out of DC, press conferences, promotions, etc always referred you to goodluck.gov. Never any mention of agent involvement.
Taxpayer dollars were used to run ads, email and snail mail solicitations. Again, you were directed to hc.gov.
And the carriers joined the party as well. Direct solicitations by mail and phone.
It was as if the agent disappeared from the landscape.
Alston, that was an excellent and honest summary of the current state of affairs for health insurance, the consumer and the agent. As you stated, more people have been hurt than helped.
The Obamacare experiment is an overall failure.
More agents seem to be dropping out this year than the last two. Many, like you, have spent many years in this industry and have made a good living along the way.
Good luck in whatever path you take.
I would agree with everything Alston said. First year was great. Second year, income went down by 40%. This year, I had to work twice as hard to make the same amount and that's still not guaranteed.
Was warned by an insurance company exec to work on Plan B. He knew what was coming. He said there is no way we can do this long term. I took his advice and am thankful I did. I doubt I will work in the u65 market next year other than help my existing clients, if compensated to do so. We shall see.
Was warned by an insurance company exec to work on Plan B. He knew what was coming. He said there is no way we can do this long term. I took his advice and am thankful I did. I doubt I will work in the u65 market next year other than help my existing clients, if compensated to do so. We shall see.
What's great is the constant contact from clients. I have a lady that calls me at least two to three times a week, to discuss her plan: whether or not she's got the right plan, her cards didn't come, her cards did come, I have a provider I'm thinking about using, could you check and see if he's in the network? I'm thinking of taking my daughter off of the plan, and letting her father pay the bill, what do you think? I'm not sure I like my dental plan and may want a better one, oh no, changed my mind, I spoke with my dentist, and he's "in network"...I'm thinking of moving to Florida, will I keep this plan or do we need to discuss it, oh okay, if I do move to Florida, we can talk about it then, just letting you know everything that is coming to mind, I'll call back in 2-3 days.
I just wait and call her back after 6:00 PM...this has been going on for over a month. The best part is she's 35 year old single woman and a renewal. I'm below min wage with the time that I've spent talking to her.
I just wait and call her back after 6:00 PM...this has been going on for over a month. The best part is she's 35 year old single woman and a renewal. I'm below min wage with the time that I've spent talking to her.
- 1,432
"Encourage" was incorrect or at best an overstatement. I shouldn't have used that word.
It is better stated as an absence of an incentive to make things better.
The insurers can only charge higher premiums if their claims are higher. The MLR takes away a lot of the incentive to promote healthier habits.
Before the MLR, profits increased if claims were lower and all else was equal. Now if claims go down, the insurer can pay a penalty if their premiums were too high.
The whole system is screwy and much of the screwyness predates the ACA. A mechanic gets paid more if they convince you that more is wrong and get you to pay for more repairs. This is not dissimilar from how doctors, and now insurers, are paid.
It is probably worse for doctors than mechanics because if docs don't follow standard of care for 100 patients and 99 get better and one dies, they can be sued. If they follow standard of care, even if there is a better treatment available, and 99 die their asses are covered.
I don't know the answer. With or without the MLR insurers have an incentive to deny legitimate claims in certain circumstances.
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