Aca is basically gone in its present form. I'm wondering if there will be an opportunity for the agent? With no requirement for people to have insurance and certainly reduced subsidy's far few people will have health insurance insurance. I'm wondering if the agent will be involved in the future?
I'm Wondering if There Will Be a Place for the Agent in Trump Care?
- Thread starter BibH
- Start date
- 514
Then the wolf came...
- 248
One of the metrics that analysts in my sector look at are cost per sale as a function of the marginal cost = marginal revenue paradigm.
While I don't cover the insurance industry, from what I read the sector is projected to be more profitable because it is predicted that technology will be cheaper than agent commissions. Analysts know that the huge Millennial population do not want to interact with agents and are very (more?) comfortable buying online.
Tens of millions of people were able to buy a complex product like ACA health coverage online without ever talking to an agent and it is projected that that will continue into the future.
No one sees agents as a profit center, only a cost center... which can (will) be eliminated (in time.)
No one sees a compelling reason to go back to the days when health agents got 15%-20% first-year comp with 10 points thereafter.
New York State has mandated 4% commissions... and as long as there are people willing to work for that figure, there is no reason for it to be raised... only lowered... probably to zero.
I don't know what group coverage pays in agent comp... but I suppose if you write large groups who pay huge premiums, you can make a sustainable living. But I don't see it for the guy or gal selling to mom/pop businesses or to individuals.
I'm not anywhere near as close to the sector as you folks are so don't beat me up on this. I'm just the reporter here, not the originator.
One thing I'll stand up and say... and feel free to take me down on it if you wish... but there are better and easier ways in the financial industry to make a living than selling health insurance in the current and anticipated insurance sector environment.
While I don't cover the insurance industry, from what I read the sector is projected to be more profitable because it is predicted that technology will be cheaper than agent commissions. Analysts know that the huge Millennial population do not want to interact with agents and are very (more?) comfortable buying online.
Tens of millions of people were able to buy a complex product like ACA health coverage online without ever talking to an agent and it is projected that that will continue into the future.
No one sees agents as a profit center, only a cost center... which can (will) be eliminated (in time.)
No one sees a compelling reason to go back to the days when health agents got 15%-20% first-year comp with 10 points thereafter.
New York State has mandated 4% commissions... and as long as there are people willing to work for that figure, there is no reason for it to be raised... only lowered... probably to zero.
I don't know what group coverage pays in agent comp... but I suppose if you write large groups who pay huge premiums, you can make a sustainable living. But I don't see it for the guy or gal selling to mom/pop businesses or to individuals.
I'm not anywhere near as close to the sector as you folks are so don't beat me up on this. I'm just the reporter here, not the originator.
One thing I'll stand up and say... and feel free to take me down on it if you wish... but there are better and easier ways in the financial industry to make a living than selling health insurance in the current and anticipated insurance sector environment.
The author of the thread was clearly joking.
At least I hope he was joking. Because, the idea that more agents were created or supported under the ACA is obsurd.
At least I hope he was joking. Because, the idea that more agents were created or supported under the ACA is obsurd.
- 389
One of the reason ACA tanked is because the only people with understanding of insurance and an incentive to get people enrolled were taken out of the equation. The switch to $0 was likely the carrier's decision once they decided that ACA was going to be unprofitable. Carriers understand better than anyone that agents get people enrolled.
I remember a time when BCBST had their own sales force that only sold for Blue. This was in the days of being able to decline a group. We'd get quotes from all of the other carriers and Blues would walk in and undercut by just enough to get the business.
The captive Blue reps morphed into group reps once Blue decided to do business with independent agents. Market share went way up. Of course, BCBST is "committed" to the agent community - until they find a less expensive way to run the block.
Pru used to be committed to the Nashville market as was evidenced by their owning brick and mortar clinics (or so they said). Pru simply sold or closed the clinics when they decided to get out of medical.
I remember a time when BCBST had their own sales force that only sold for Blue. This was in the days of being able to decline a group. We'd get quotes from all of the other carriers and Blues would walk in and undercut by just enough to get the business.
The captive Blue reps morphed into group reps once Blue decided to do business with independent agents. Market share went way up. Of course, BCBST is "committed" to the agent community - until they find a less expensive way to run the block.
Pru used to be committed to the Nashville market as was evidenced by their owning brick and mortar clinics (or so they said). Pru simply sold or closed the clinics when they decided to get out of medical.
WOW... the flaming socialist liberal wacco and I agree... there is hope in this word, praise almighty God!
