ACA IMO Legit or Concerning

[me112233]

Sorry this is long (and a little rambling...)

Is it normal to talk to one IMO and then when it comes time to contract end up contracting through a different one?

I am brand new (got my license Friday) and really don't know what I don't know.

I contacted an imo a couple of weeks ago and spoke with their ACA onboarding person. It sounded good and he sent me all the info about what I would need to do in order to move forward after I got my license.

Saturday I followed the link he sent to get contacted, that link took me to a page that had the original companies name "in partnership with enrollinsurance.com" everything in that process continued to say the original companies name.

Today I start getting carrier contracts from a THIRD company. From what I gather this third company is the parent/sister company to Enroll.

I guess my question is who am I really doing business with? The original company, Enroll, or the sister company?

I am also concerned about this because I was under the impression (again I'm new and don't know anything, literally) that independent agents got paid by the carriers DIRECTLY, but at least two of the carrier contracts I looked at today were explicitly paid by the imo (which one I have no idea, see above ).

Am I being overly cautious or should I cut and run?

The reason I went with the original company to start with is that it had a good reputation on here and elsewhere and seemed like it had a reliable system in place for the kind of sales I wanted to do. Now I am unsure of who I am dealing with and what their reputation is like and have no idea what system they are offering.

I tried emailing and calling the onboarding person I originally spoke with but haven't heard back yet.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Sometimes an marketing organization doesn't want to build their own system for a niche market such as ACA sales, so another marketing organization makes them an offer to be the middleman and get a portion of the override in exchange for sending business their way. Sometimes it is transparent, sometimes it's not. When it's not transparent, it bothers me; maybe it shouldn't, yet I feel like if someone else is getting a portion of the override, I'm not going to get much from the hierarchy. But then, in my experience (over 30 years), I have received very little in the way of something to help me make sales from any marketing organization; for that matter, even at the very beginning when I was a captive, the company didn't do a whole heck of a lot to help me make sales, seems like it was 95% my own doing even as a captive (the 5% was a book of business I had to collect premiums from on sales by prior agent, commonly called a "debit route," that provided a source for some new sales). Some of the platforms out there for ACA can be helpful; so if you are new to ACA, that would be a major positive if you can get a GOOD platform to sell on. If you are only doing local sales (i.e., not taking incoming calls from all over the nation), the platform is less of an issue, but it would still be nice.

 

[Jay Dozier]

I appreciate the explanation of why these "partnerships" exist. That has been a head-scratcher for me since before I got into this process.
It always seemed to me that if you are big enough to be putting on agents nationally, why share the money with someone else. But I guess it boils down to processes not just size, which makes a little more sense.
I think they were upfront about it, at least in a way, because the original contracting page did say "blank company in partnership with blank company...."
I think it is most likely very legit, but being new it seemed weird.
I'm learning is all I can say.

Thanks again.

 

[me112233]

I appreciate the explanation of why these "partnerships" exist. That has been a head-scratcher for me since before I got into this process.
It always seemed to me that if you are big enough to be putting on agents nationally, why share the money with someone else. But I guess it boils down to processes not just size, which makes a little more sense.
I think they were upfront about it, at least in a way, because the original contracting page did say "blank company in partnership with blank company...."
I think it is most likely very legit, but being new it seemed weird.
I'm learning is all I can say.

Thanks again.

Ultimately, you just need to make sure you have a good contract for YOU. Are you going to get those renewals next year, even if you aren't still selling through that marketing organization? My experience with ACA is that it's not the best business as far as customer quality. At least 50% of those who have to pay a premium will lapse by year's end. Probably 25% of those who are fully subsidized will lapse. And you will lose another chunk of them at renewal time for various reason (they will go direct to healtcare.gov and change plans, they respond to an ad on TV, etc.). I learned the real reason that most of the uninsured were uninsured -- they literally didn't want health insurance. The first year, in my county, a lot of people could get "free" health insurance because of the way the subsidy was calculated; one of the "healthcare exchange" companies had priced the product too low (went bankrupt after two years); the second year it was going to cost this one guy $38 a month after been $0 the first year, and he canceled it, because "I'm not going to pay $38 dollars a month for health insurance." That's the mindset of virtually everyone who was uninsured prior to Obamacare -- they DELIBERATELY chose to go uninsured instead of paying a premium they actually could afford, then started whining when they got sick and couldn't get insurance (the healthcare equivalent of wanting to buy homeowners insurance only after a grease fire has started on the stove).

 

[isaias]

I've been with Agility for many years. They aren't the most responsive agency but once you get your contracts in order you won't need them.

They always pay on time

 

[InsureWithAngela]

Hi Jay,

I was very confused when I first started as well! I decided to be an independent agent and contract (got appointed) directly with the carriers that I like. I work with one FMO (Plan Advisors) for my Medicare clients because they provided me with a great CRM system, compliance voice recording, 10 year storage requirements, a client facing sign up link for my website (clients can enter zip code & shop for plans), custom business cards, custom table cloth and a custom banner. They answer ALL my questions when I have them, and they also helped me get into some independent pharmacies and much more!

I use HealthSherpa for my ACA clients and find it very easy to use...It also has a client facing link that clients can shop for plans using their zip code.

For me, it's been much easier, less confusing and WAY more profitable being independent so hope this helps and best of luck!

 

[Jay Dozier]

Hi Jay,
I was very confused when I first started as well! I decided to be an independent agent and contract (got appointed) directly with the carriers that I like..

Thanks for the response and I appreciate the good wishes.
Yeah things definitely aren't moving as fast as I'd like but after speaking with my contact I have come to the conclusion that a large part of the hold-up is getting appointed. Not sure how long that normally takes but I have seen on some of the company sites numbers ranging from 5 days to 3 weeks(?). Weeks seems excessive in this day and age, but it is what it is.
I do have some training scheduled for the end of this week which is good and at least satisfies some of my desire to be moving forward.
As far as contracting direct, honestly it was (is) tempting but as I've said elsewhere, I really don't know what I don't know. Going in blind seemed like a recipe to take on needless debt as I tried to reinvent the wheel.

In my opinion the IMO will really prove its value over the next few weeks with its training program and support when I'm getting started. After that, they put themselves forward as being on top of technology and maintaining good (vetted) lead sources. If that's true then I will be satisfied. If not, then I will cross that bridge when I get to it I guess.

 

[AFFinsure]

May I ask which FMO are you with? I recently signed up with Agility for ACA,