Stupid Question. Please Help.

Jewels1969 · 10-23-2009, 03:25 AM

Ok. So this guy has insurance since 2005 with Unicare. He gets rate increase. He thinks it is too high so he goes online to look at other options. He sees that his same plan online (ehealthinsurance) is $302. His rate increase letter from Unicare shows his new rate is $352. He wants to know why the rate isn't the same?
Any ideas?

DS4 · 10-23-2009, 03:31 AM

Either,
1) not really an apples to apples benefit comparison, or,
2) his policy is rated and ehealth displays "preferred" rates.

I'm going with #2.

Health Insurance St Pete · 11-05-2009, 12:35 AM

There are some hidden charges on Ehealth which you get to know when your are through with you policy!

There's no much diff in ehealth or in agents policy distributor!
So tell this guy nt to wry much about it you will get the increase at the perfect time

Thank You

TXINSURANCE · 11-05-2009, 12:39 AM

Incorrect answers.

You need to understand individual health insurance "blocking". He is in a different block then new street rates. If you don't understand this yet, that's ok but this is how individual health insurance works to manage risk.

But since Unicare is now out of business, he can either take a guaranteed offer from Blue of ... TX / IL by 12/1/09 or you can sell him another company. They are done.

IndividualHealthGuy · 11-13-2009, 05:11 PM

I worked in marketing at a major carrier for a number of years (clue it has a color in its name), and when we increased rates on existing members by 15% while book rates went up around 2%, this is what my director said to me: "When you go to buy cable TV, they will give you an introductory rate, but then 1 or 2 years later you will be an existing customer paying more than the new customers."

This is the thought process. That once you have a plan you will not leave, and most people are too lazy to check the new book rates. All you can offer this person is a new carrier.

Also, Unicare is not out of business anywhere but TX and IL. They just aren't selling new business in other states. The plans in CA are still active, but for how long nobody knows. My guess is they will sell that block to themselves (Blue Cross of CA, Anthem)

ctdavid2 · 11-13-2009, 07:14 PM

Question is did YOU write that policy in 2005? If not, sell him something else and move on. All these answers are right and there could be even more intangibles...that GA could be getting a bulk discount on premiums if they are doing alot of business...could be the new policy itself may have lost some benefits or had to add some more exclusions that were not in the original policy due to either cost cutting or abide by some state statute...maybe he has been maxing the hell out of that policy for some pre-x and the rate increase is based on his usage...could be anything. Only way to find out for sure is to get your hands on both policies or to call the company direct and have them run the rate and give an explanation. Once they run a MIP I bet the rate ends up higher than what he has now.

dgoldenz · 11-13-2009, 07:59 PM

Originally Posted by ctdavid2

Question is did YOU write that policy in 2005? If not, sell him something else and move on. All these answers are right and there could be even more intangibles...that GA could be getting a bulk discount on premiums if they are doing alot of business...could be the new policy itself may have lost some benefits or had to add some more exclusions that were not in the original policy due to either cost cutting or abide by some state statute...maybe he has been maxing the hell out of that policy for some pre-x and the rate increase is based on his usage...could be anything. Only way to find out for sure is to get your hands on both policies or to call the company direct and have them run the rate and give an explanation. Once they run a MIP I bet the rate ends up higher than what he has now.

GA's can't get discounted rates on premiums...

IndividualHealthGuy · 11-16-2009, 10:05 AM

Agreed, the rates don't change no matter where you buy the policy. That's a national regulation to the best of my knowledge. And while I'm in MO and KS, I would doubt a liberal state like CA would allow for rate increases based on usage. That is dictated by block claims experience for the age/gender band only.