Am I wrong to be angry?

[Crabcake Johnny]

CA

Can you sell the exact same policy for $100 more a month in CA (ie. Assurant vs. Blue)? I don't know. You mention "Assurant" and people back off because they have never heard of it. We are inundated with media for the Blues and Kaiser... and no one in CA can think for themselves. Peer pressure rules here, IMO, and celeb endorcements are very powerful. CA if its own country and is just not like the rest of the USA in so many respects. That's sometimes a good thing, but not always.

Al

Don't know about all that. I did around $14,000 in Assurant last week and not one of my clients heard of them. I know Mike Golden is doing an Assurant app every day in Florida and if you ask him I doubt a single client has heard of them. In fact, over $600,000 in Assurant production three years in a row and maybe 3 or 4 of those client ever hear of them. Are they price cometitive in every state? No. That's fine, but don't use the excuse the people haven't hear of them as a barrier to the sale. It's not. I'm at 2 Assurant apps so far this week and I gave the company history to both of them. Again, if Assurant's rates are too far out of whack that's understandable. Everyone's heard of McDonalds but it doesn't mean they have quality food and service.

I'm not going to recommend any plan that doesn't fit in my clients budget. If it's a family in their 50's, both smokers and they need to be in the 400's I'm not looking at Assurant.

 

[Guest]

Same exact plan... HSA.... deductible, drugs, everything but unknown company is $110 a month higher than well-known company. Service from both are equal to best of your knowledge. What do you sell?

If Assurant had something in CA to differentiate itself such that it could justify it's much higher rate, I'd try to sell it. But to a healthy client who is going to pass UW with no sweat, why should I sell her the more costly plan?

I've yet to see one thing about Assurant that justifies it's absurdly high prices in the CA market. I've asked this same question to the RSM (who is in Arizona!) and I never get an answer back from him.

My thought? Assurant knows they are not competitive here, and don't want to be, and any premium they get from CA they just see as gravey. They get their meat and potatoes in other, less competitive states.

YMMV.

Al

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

If the Assurant price fits into my client's budget with a solid plan (Max or HSA) and underwriting is fine then Assurant is the only company I'd recommending. Too many reason to discuss but flawless claims and the ability to keep them on the books year after year is most of it.

Did a deal yesterday, client paying $918 on Cobra and everyone's healthy. They wanted to be under $500 and I got them an Assurant Max Plan at $460. Are they happy? Hell yeah. I really didn't bother looking at any other company. Was Blue Cross lower? Yep. Was Golden Rule lower? Yep. I couldn't care less. I saved them over $400 a month, got them below were they wanted to be on price and I'll have them as clients forever.

I like Assurant so much that if MD became horribly uncompetitive I'd just write with them in another state.

 

[sman]

Same exact plan... HSA.... deductible, drugs, everything but unknown company is $110 a month higher than well-known company. Service from both are equal to best of your knowledge. What do you sell?

If Assurant had something in CA to differentiate itself such that it could justify it's much higher rate, I'd try to sell it. But to a healthy client who is going to pass UW with no sweat, why should I sell her the more costly plan?

I've yet to see one thing about Assurant that justifies it's absurdly high prices in the CA market. I've asked this same question to the RSM (who is in Arizona!) and I never get an answer back from him.

My thought? Assurant knows they are not competitive here, and don't want to be, and any premium they get from CA they just see as gravey. They get their meat and potatoes in other, less competitive states.

YMMV.

Al

I'm with you Al, but I'm in Georgia. Assurant just isn't that competitive here. Our own resident poster, somarco, told me he went to an Assurant meeting a couple of weeks and was told that 40% of their sales here in Georgia was the RightStart crap. If you ask me, they are regressing. Assurant gets pushed by agents here because the commissions are so much better than with Blue Cross and Kaiser or any carrier for that matter. And in my opinion, that's not looking out for the client.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I fully agree. Far too much emphasis on the Right Start which is a very bad move both short-term and long-term. Don't just bash Assurant since GR's in-house sales force can't kick out enough CoPay Saver.

 

[SME]

Thanks for the info on California, I am about to start selling in the state and was wondering who the big players are.

 

[GreenSky]

Thanks for the info on California, I am about to start selling in the state and was wondering who the big players are.

There is another carrier in California and I give them almost all of my business. It's Nationwide Insurance and they have the best HSA plan available here, and an excellent network.

Commissions, new and renewal, are 10% higher than the Blues and they do not write direct. All policies are written by independent agents.

Rarely do I give either Blue Cross or Blue Shield any individual business.

Rick

 

[Dave020]

2006 Nationwide NAIC

Green,

You might want to check out the NAIC 2006 individual & family health insurance complaint ratios for California.

I won't go near Nationwide (aka CalFarm) for this reason alone:

Blue Cross L&H CA 0.43
Blue Shield CA 0.66
Health Net CA 0.14
Kaiser CA 0.00
Aetna 0.14

Mega Life 5.14
Nationwide 29.80

Median is 1.00 and that is a terribly bad complaint ratio, 6 times the complaint ratio of Mega.

Dave
www.davefluker.com

 

[Dave020]

Correction, Health Net CA is 0.19 not 0.14

Dave
www.davefluker.com

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Nationwide is based here in Ohio, and I believe that Ohio and Ca are the only two States that they write health insurance.

Their HSA is solid here as well. But they use the 5-year banded rate like Aetna, which makes quoting interesting. I don't like their Farm Bureau fee which is mandatory EVERY year.

Nationwide is a little like Assurant here. Solid companies but woefully lacking in competitiveness.