BCBS-Illinois: Commission Promotion / New Same-Sex Law.

[AllenChicago]

Hey All,

A couple of notifications from Blue Cross of Illinois today.

1. 25 "Under 65" Applications with effective dates between January 1st and June 30th 2011 qualify agent for a 50% pay raise. This equates a 15% commission.

REF: http://www.pages02.net/bluecrossblueshield/nftb_prod_0406011_New_for_2011_TrueBlue_no-share/

Isn't it a little late in the year to be announcing a six month promotion/campaign that ends in less than 60 days??


2. Effective June 1, 2011, same-sex couples in Illinois are viewed as being "married" for insurance purposes.
http://www.pages02.net/bluecrossblueshield/nftb_prod_0406011_Illinois_Religious_Freedom_no-share/

I really don't know what to make of this law and its effect on the health insurance industry in Illinois. It looks like if people of the same sex live together (i.e. room-mates), the non-insured partner can be added to the policy and get the "spousal" discount. Has something similar gone into effect in other states? What has been the result...higher premiums?

-Allen

 

[669comche]

I have not had anything like this in TX for BCBS.

I don't see the benefit in this program anyway.

Its not going to help the independent agent.........only the top 20 producers qualify, so its kind of like the rich get richer type of deal.

 

[taterpeeler]

They just blinked
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I have not had anything like this in TX for BCBS.

I don't see the benefit in this program anyway.

Its not going to help the independent agent.........only the top 20 producers qualify, so its kind of like the rich get richer type of deal.

Lets look at it another way: dig deep into the program. first, the qualifier is at 25? 25? bcbs used to start with at least 100 to qualify or something like that... also, look at the date ending. last day of June... thats also the last day of the 2nd quarter... and based on the OP he would go to 15% meaning he is at 10% now... we are at 8% in Texas.... so they pay more in IL and should get more action than us selling for 8% goofy %

Ok, now lets also keep in mind they lost ehealth insurance, the far and away leader as the #1 agent for bcbs... about 2 times as much as tx insurance joe from this board.

i have said all along that if after the first or 2nd quarter the insurance companies changed their bonus programs away from member growth to straight new members they would be in trouble and starting to see they cant do it without us.... well... it just happened, they blinked.... big fing time

I also have stated that if they did some tricked up bonus program mid year the next move would be a commission increase... that will occur in the 3rd or 4th quarter...

 

[SamIam]

Hey All,

A couple of notifications from Blue Cross of Illinois today.

1. 25 "Under 65" Applications with effective dates between January 1st and June 30th 2011 qualify agent for a 50% pay raise. This equates a 15% commission.

REF: http://www.pages02.net/bluecrossblueshield/nftb_prod_0406011_New_for_2011_TrueBlue_no-share/

Isn't it a little late in the year to be announcing a six month promotion/campaign that ends in less than 60 days??


2. Effective June 1, 2011, same-sex couples in Illinois are viewed as being "married" for insurance purposes.
http://www.pages02.net/bluecrossblueshield/nftb_prod_0406011_Illinois_Religious_Freedom_no-share/

I really don't know what to make of this law and its effect on the health insurance industry in Illinois. It looks like if people of the same sex live together (i.e. room-mates), the non-insured partner can be added to the policy and get the "spousal" discount. Has something similar gone into effect in other states? What has been the result...higher premiums?

-Allen

I thought they announced last year once you hit 25 apps you move to 15%. I'm pretty sure I remember them announcing this when they dropped commissions.

 

[669comche]

No its only the top 20 producers............

To get to 25 is easy................but being in the top 20 is a whole other different ball game.

 

[AllenChicago]

I thought they announced last year once you hit 25 apps you move to 15%. I'm pretty sure I remember them announcing this when they dropped commissions.

Hi Sam,
The agreement (which is non-clickable on the BCBS-IL website) stated that if you sold more than 25 policies in 2010, you'd start 2011 at 15%. Less than 25 policies in 2010 = 10% in 2011.

But since only 20 agent in the entire country can qualify for this 50% commission increase, it's not really a promotion...it's more like a built in incentive to make the top selling BCBS-IL agents compete against one another for the 50% pay raise. This war of the titans is happening WAY over my head!
-AC

 

[Ann H]

They just blinked... I have said all along that if after the first or 2nd quarter the insurance companies changed their bonus programs away from member growth to straight new members they would be in trouble and starting to see they cant do it without us.... well... it just happened, they blinked.... big fing time

I also have stated that if they did some tricked up bonus program mid year the next move would be a commission increase... that will occur in the 3rd or 4th quarter...

Yes, Peelerinsurance, I agree with you. I think we'll see a moving target for a while. Carriers will try several things, and we will see a roller coaster ride of valleys and hills, twists and turns. Agents who can weather the temporary storm and see into the inevitable recovery will make it. Others may not.

 

[AndreaSti]

On a similar note: we got a fishing call from one of our reps today talking about how slow they are, but then he says, don't get me wrong, we are okay and I know we are not the low price leader anymore, BUT he is just wondering: is it slow over there? Stuff like that. Wants to know if the market is slow or if they are just getting no biz from agents. I wonder how many of those call he made and if he has to submit a report to his boss on the responses he got. Also, he didn't define his "slow" period, whether that is all year, this month, or just this week (spring break for most of Atlanta). Definately fishing for info.

 

[669comche]

Hi Sam,
The agreement (which is non-clickable on the BCBS-IL website) stated that if you sold more than 25 policies in 2010, you'd start 2011 at 15%. Less than 25 policies in 2010 = 10% in 2011.

But since only 20 agent in the entire country can qualify for this 50% commission increase, it's not really a promotion...it's more like a built in incentive to make the top selling BCBS-IL agents compete against one another for the 50% pay raise. This war of the titans is happening WAY over my head!
-AC

So MLR is 80% but in IL you can still get 15%???

So why is TX only 8%? Sounds like we are subsidizing the commission in IL with our sales here in TX.

How can the parent company be doing this? What am I missing?

 

[AllGold]

So MLR is 80% but in IL you can still get 15%???

So why is TX only 8%? Sounds like we are subsidizing the commission in IL with our sales here in TX.

How can the parent company be doing this? What am I missing?

I assume it is two completely different companies and the only thing they have in common is they are both licensees of the BCBS name.