Aetna, Cigna Game Plan

[bill3173]

Exactly. If agents want to bend over eventually the companies will even stop using vaseline.

Rick

I think they set the vaseline aside when they gave the generous 30 day notice on the change in compensation, and said oh, btw, we're cutting your commissions on business already submitted, just like we promised.

If anybody thinks they can trust these guys to do the "right thing", forget it.

 

[669comche]

Also agree. They issued their insanely low schedule and will set back waiting on suckers to continue to give them business. If they can find enough pigeons then why change it.

It would be nice if agents would get riled up about it and try to do something. All I seem to find is independent cows continuing to graze on whatever crap they get fed.

Maybe instead of an Association you should set up a "Union" for agents?

 

[leevena]

This was an interesting topic for me to read. For what it's worth, I have a couple of comments. As we evolve into health care reform (as is legislated now) the individual market is dead. The Individual health market has never been very attractive to the major carriers, and so as the MLR takes hold, it is not that difficult for them to make these changes. It may be difficult for brokers, or even the carrier reps delivering the message, but not to the carrier. And, since most of the group business they value comes from brokers who don't really care about Individual, there is no real loss to the carrier.

If you want to make money selling Indivdual medical, you do need to market along the lines of ehealth. There are many brokers/agents who sell significant amounts of individual markets via a website. They could use this as a foundation from which to offer coverage via the exchanges. If the exchanges do not take effect, you are then left with a viable marketing model for the Individual market.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I think the Exchanges will take effect and I think we'll get about $7 per month per individual. Just a guess.

So yea...most should start looking at other lines.

 

[AndreaSti]

Chumps,
For the past 5year, I wrote exclusively for Aetna. Good coverage, competitive, easy sale, easy underwriting. During those years, they were on par with Blue Cross, but significantly easier to deal with. Now, I plan to write exclusively Blue Cross for the same reasons that I wrote Aetna in the past. Blue Cross is simply a win-win situation for client and agent, in my neck of the woods. I'm pretty much done with Aetna-and I have been a fairly big producer for them. I thoroughly enjoyed the 20 minute conversation I had with the Aetna manager about the lack of apps submitted recently!

I love it! One of the owners of our agency had a meeting with one of the higher ups w Aetna here and he said he thought all insurance companies, including his own, was using this as an excuse to get rid of agents. The reason he said this? I can only guess that because he has known us for 20+ years, he is giving us a warning.

 

[jbage007]

I love it! One of the owners of our agency had a meeting with one of the higher ups w Aetna here and he said he thought all insurance companies, including his own, was using this as an excuse to get rid of agents.

and somarco wonders why I don't have a warm fuzzy feeling about his precious little insurance companies

 

[somarco]

I have earned a very good living for most of the last 35 years courtesy of insurance companies and even though things are looking rocky right now I expect to continue in the future.

 

[jbage007]

good for u bubba

 

[AndreaSti]

Hey guess what? I was just looking on Aetna's Producer World, on their individual link, checking status of an app we put in on NOVEMBER 11th (thanks for taking over a month) and I noticed Aetna has a headline that says:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Coming soon for January, 2011 -- NEW broker bonus programs[/SIZE][/FONT]

Let me guess - $2 a head? Or maybe $7 a head like someone on this site says we will get IF we are allowed to participate in the exchanges?

 

[Quotebroker]

or $250 in co op money for 100 cases issued, payable in 2012