Aetna Commission Error

Thx for the response, Bill. Either one . . . or anyone caught up in this mess. You, Joe & Charlie all sounded the alert.

As indicated, I am now writing more business with Aetna and have had minor glitches. Before the $$$ become significant I wanted more info.


My new update could be a sub topic of this thread. This week, I had amazing disappearing cases. Some cases were pulled from my book, and when I called to inquire, they weren't sure why, and I asked who the cases had been assigned to, and they told me that they were taken "in house". Well, it turned out to be a mistake, and they corrected it, and did it fairly quickly, which I do appreciate. Just a word to the wise, you cannot go to sleep while doing business with Aetna. There is no way in hades that I would stop writing them, but if you are a serious agent, putting several cases with them monthly, expect to work a little harder on the clerical end.
 
they told me that they were taken "in house". Well, it turned out to be a mistake, and they corrected it, and did it fairly quickly, which I do appreciate. Just a word to the wise, you cannot go to sleep while doing business with Aetna.

Did they provide a reason why they were made house accounts?

Are you working direct with Aetna or getting your RVP involved?

It this was happening to me I would have a F2F meeting with him and make HIM get to the bottom of it.

I wonder if this is happening on the Medicare side & group or just limited to IFP?
 
Did they provide a reason why they were made house accounts?

Are you working direct with Aetna or getting your RVP involved?

It this was happening to me I would have a F2F meeting with him and make HIM get to the bottom of it.

I wonder if this is happening on the Medicare side & group or just limited to IFP?


1. Yes they provided a reason, it was a compliance error, that was caught and corrected.
2. It was not necessary to involve the RVP, since this was handled the same day that it was discovered.
3. I haven't placed any group or medicare plans with Aetna, so I really don't know.

The thing about it is its not just one thing, this type error may not ever happen again. This thread started, I guess, because other agents were having commish problems, and I am just giving you a heads up.

Frankly, I am not a large producer with them(7-8 cases monthly), I would be interested in the composition of the $9K worth of errors referenced above. I told you about a couple of others, two placed cases several months ago, were not "assigned" correctly for me to be paid, etc.

Let me state for the record, I have no beef with Aetna. I will not condone beefs with Aetna during my administration, but they will keep you alert in the commission dept.

I pray that they are not reading this forum.
 
1. What the heck is a "compliance error"? Sounds like BS to me.

2. Even though it was handled quickly, seems like the RVP needs to be made aware of the problem and your concerns. Somehow I doubt you are being singled out for this abuse.

I will not condone beefs with Aetna during my administration,

Gee, I didn't even know you were running for office . . .

I pray that they are not reading this forum.

Carriers and other vendors often find their way to open forums. It helps them to keep in touch with the foot soldiers.

Over at InsureBlog we have 3 carriers who are prominent visitors. Aetna, Anthem and UHC.

Sometimes they leave comments, sometimes not. We are rather vocal in our opinions as in our "stupid carrier tricks" series.

If they can't handle the truth then screw 'em.
 
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1. What the heck is a "compliance error"? Sounds like BS to me.

2. Even though it was handled quickly, seems like the RVP needs to be made aware of the problem and your concerns. Somehow I doubt you are being singled out for this abuse.



Gee, I didn't even know you were running for office . . .



Carriers and other vendors often find their way to open forums. It helps them to keep in touch with the foot soldiers.

Over at InsureBlog we have 3 carriers who are prominent visitors. Aetna, Anthem and UHC.

Sometimes they leave comments, sometimes not. We are rather vocal in our opinions as in our "stupid carrier tricks" series.

If they can't handle the truth then screw 'em.

Of course I'm not being singled out(I didn't start this thread), that's why its better not to get too ruffled with them. There are a myriad of ways that commission errors happen, and you will get an education in all of them. The compliance error had to do with a miscommunication of my non resident status in the state that the policies were written in this particular case. It was fixed, next month it will be something else, get with the program, and realize that they are not a cheap date. If you think that they are going to hop in the sack with you over a 100 policies a year, think again.
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Somarco, certain elements of the last post were intended to be humorous, regardless of the factual content. I unintentionally, came across as insolent. Please accept my apology and a check for $100. Thank you.
 
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FWIW, I got another "mystery" check from Aetna on Saturday. Must be living right.

$22 and change for a policy with a July effective date.

Error happen, but I have never experienced issues like this before with any carrier and I have dealt with a lot of carriers for a lot of years.

I wrote a little case with Delta Dental in August. My first. Called last week about the commission. Got a check on Friday then another on Saturday. One for August, the other for September.

And no, I don't expect miracles over 100 apps a year. Carriers wet their pants over the phone mills that crank out hundreds of apps a week . . . even if those apps are a pain in the butt.

Given the average producer with most carriers writes less than a dozen apps a year, you do get noticed around 50 and a consistent 100 app a year producer is appreciated.

I don't write enough to bless more than 1 or (in a good year) 2 carriers wit 100 apps a year. Think I did about 15 last year with Blue and maybe 10 with KP, 5 or 6 with Time.

I will top 100 with H1 this year even with the recent shift toward Aetna. I might hit 50 with Aetna by years end if underwriting cooperates.


And Bill . . . I want to thank you for your contribution. It will certainly help the cause.

I will probably use it as a campaign donation to McCain-Palin.
 
FWIW, I got another "mystery" check from Aetna on Saturday. Must be living right.

$22 and change for a policy with a July effective date.

Error happen, but I have never experienced issues like this before with any carrier and I have dealt with a lot of carriers for a lot of years.

I wrote a little case with Delta Dental in August. My first. Called last week about the commission. Got a check on Friday then another on Saturday. One for August, the other for September.

And no, I don't expect miracles over 100 apps a year. Carriers wet their pants over the phone mills that crank out hundreds of apps a week . . . even if those apps are a pain in the butt.

Given the average producer with most carriers writes less than a dozen apps a year, you do get noticed around 50 and a consistent 100 app a year producer is appreciated.

I don't write enough to bless more than 1 or (in a good year) 2 carriers wit 100 apps a year. Think I did about 15 last year with Blue and maybe 10 with KP, 5 or 6 with Time.

I will top 100 with H1 this year even with the recent shift toward Aetna. I might hit 50 with Aetna by years end if underwriting cooperates.


And Bill . . . I want to thank you for your contribution. It will certainly help the cause.

I will probably use it as a campaign donation to McCain-Palin.

May lay off of Aetna for a while. I am still getting apps mail and fax to submit, but after this week, I am not going to solicit business for them too aggressively. They have the big company mentality as you indicated in an earlier post, and it seems to seep into everything, without going into further detail. I really didn't care for the late notice on cutting the commission on the $10KV plan, and bothers me more now than it did, just the attitude they took to agents like me, who are getting in apps weekly.
 
Got a real nice note from Aetna today.

It seems they have two different FEIN's for my agency on file and neither of them are correct.

Imagine that . . .

I was trying to get set up for direct deposit which triggered a flurry of paper work, etc and that is when they caught the error.

I supplied them with documentation but they refused to accept is. They claim they got their info from the GA DOI and unless the DOI corrects it, they will stop paying commissions.

Forget that they have paid me for 2+ years on, take your pick, one FEIN or the other.

They will stop paying unless I call the DOI and correct the error.

They are also reporting me to the IRS for providing Aetna with an incorrect FEIN.

Such nice folks at Aetna.
 
Got a real nice note from Aetna today.

It seems they have two different FEIN's for my agency on file and neither of them are correct.

Imagine that . . .

I was trying to get set up for direct deposit which triggered a flurry of paper work, etc and that is when they caught the error.

I supplied them with documentation but they refused to accept is. They claim they got their info from the GA DOI and unless the DOI corrects it, they will stop paying commissions.

Forget that they have paid me for 2+ years on, take your pick, one FEIN or the other.

They will stop paying unless I call the DOI and correct the error.

They are also reporting me to the IRS for providing Aetna with an incorrect FEIN.

Such nice folks at Aetna.

Well, things are starting to come into focus for me. I was on the phone with them today, about other issues, that should be cleared up now. I think that they are an easy sell, and the customers like them, and they are not over represented (at least not in my area anyway), but it comes down to how much grief you want to heap on yourself, and whether or not it is avoidable. Most of the problems that I've had were not avoidable, because they were not my mistakes. So, the question imo is are they easily replaced? The answer is no. They have unique plan designs, and are popular with the upper middle class. To make matters worse, I have placed more Doctors and nurses in their plans than any other carrier, and have received more referrals from Aetna clients than any other carrier.

That's my bit, sorry that you're having bigger issues right now, but I'm sure you'll get it worked out. I'm not going into any further detail, but I've had a similar thing happen, and had to work through it. They'll get it fixed, but you may lose a little sleep.
 
Incompetence is rampant with carriers, but some of the things they do still amazes me.

This is one of them.

Just when you think you have seen it all they manage to surprise you with something incredibly stupid.

I sell mostly HSA's and they are FINALLY competitive. GR hints they will have new options and more competitive rates the first quarter of 2009. It remains to be seen if that happens or not.

Since they reintroduced new product lines in GA almost 3 yrs ago we have had Humana and Aetna get serious about writing business. For those who are willing to put up with Coventry, they are another option.

Seems carrier, including GR, think they can sit on their butt and ignore the market while continuing to write business.

Problem is, that theory doesn't work.

GR is not writing anywhere near what they could be writing and they are starting to lose renewals to other carriers who are interested in capturing market share.

This is a dynamic market, constantly changing.

Some carriers haven't figured that out yet.

Aetna has a niche for now. Not much of a way to fight it. Kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't argument.

I hate it when that happens.
 
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