Celtic

Aetna is coming alive on a multitude of levels. Good plans, most markets pricing is extremely competitive.

In CO run a quote for mother and 4 kids and see who has the best rate in the state - it will be Aetna. Single + Child(ren) rates are unbelievable - so much so that my client thought I was doing a bait and switch.

Now lets pray they don't get "rated" or the client will revert to the bait and switch theory... I think it was a clean app - but it was over $200 less than UHC and others per month.

Aetna only counts and charges premium for the first 2 children. For a larger family, they would be nuts to look anywhere else. The plans they offer are the best on the market in CO this year. A lot of local brokers refused to offer Aetna because of the 15% - suckers! They were thinking about themselves rather than the client.

Another little Aetna tip: I enrolled a family of 3 (Mother (41), Father (43) and child (15)) each with an individual application for the MCOA 2500 plan. Total premium was $68/mth less than submitting an app for a family together. Aetna prices are based upon the age of the oldest applicant.

Sure, they take on an extra $5K in total risk (Aetna is max 2 on family plans), but I was moving them from a World policy that had $15K risk anyway. The extra monthly savings allowed them to add a $5K accident policy that covers the whole family. That was covered just by splitting them up into individual apps, they also saved over $90/mth changing carriers.

You should also split up submits that are simply parent/child and save premium dollars without adding any additional risk (for children 2 and older). The only drawback is that they will have 2 withdrawls each month on their bank statement. Not such a big deal given that they are saving money doing it this way.

Eg: 2008 rates - MCOA 2500: Father age 30 and 1 child age 5 - together = $247, split = $176. Same thing but with Mother age 30 - together $282, split = $211. It doesn't work this way if you are quoting an adult couple = same price.

Oh yeah - each individual application also counts toward yearly production and bonus programs. Definitely a win -win situation and legit.

Now try to get that type of advice going through EHealth!!!!!!!!!!
 
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They were extremely competitive in MD when they launched in '05. It didn't take them but a year to give almost a 100% rate increase for new biz rates - that's right, it used to be $393 for a family of 4 age 40 through 22 for a $2,500 deductible plan. That same plan now is $693. That said, they do offer a maternity benefit with no waiting period.

I can only write them for singles which is a shame.
 
That said, they do offer a maternity benefit with no waiting period.

Wow - what a great business move.

Since everyone calling about maternity "hasn't been officially diagnosed" and you know darn well 9 of 10 are already pregnant.
 
Aetna '08 prices are about 20% increase over '07 for new business. Have not yet seen what the annual increase on existing policies will be. They have just finished their 1st year with individual in CO.

Now, back to Celtic.............I am appointed but there is nothing to talk about. :SLEEP:
 
Lol. I've had plenty of that: "I might be pregnant but I don't know." Pass.

Aetna wins the "most improved" award in my book out of all indie carriers. It's night and day dealing with them now from when they first came into MD.

You can't make this up - called broker support about 3 weeks after they launched in MD. I was asking a question about the pre-ex clause and the rep told me they're not in MD yet. I said "news to me since I've already written applications." She was stunned and said her screen showed they're not in MD.

Then I get no pay one month - zilch. They called it a commission error and would research it. They solved it.....2 months later. Then I had active policies on the books for 4+ months - no commish. Called commissions and they told me premiums had not been applied.

Come to find out in some cases - as with my SISTER (who I put on Aetna) that was the case. Three months had gone by and they had yet to draft her account. Of course, they finally draft.....4 months of premiums all at once! Yeah - I got a few calls on that.

The change? Just over a month ago my bank shows a small direct deposit - just over $20. I was like "what?" It was from Aetna so I called. They told me it was a client paying a premium late and they didn't want me to wait for my next statement to pay me.

Night and day.
 
Then I get no pay one month - zilch. They called it a commission error and would research it. They solved it.....2 months later. Then I had active policies on the books for 4+ months - no commish. Called commissions and they told me premiums had not been applied.

Come to find out in some cases - as with my SISTER (who I put on Aetna) that was the case. Three months had gone by and they had yet to draft her account. Of course, they finally draft.....4 months of premiums all at once! Yeah - I got a few calls on that.

Yeah, they are still working on some of those issues. I called just last week and inquired about the same thing on 3 of my clients...their premiums had not been applied but they were invoiced for 2+ months.

I caught it in time to avoid much hassel but it is a problem. They have a ways to go with the on-line process and swear that they are working on it. I gave them a tip: Try having Agent/Broker input on the process rather than relying on bean counters and programmers! :idea:
 
The 1st online app? Oh Lord! You'd finish a page, click to continue and get 4 red error messages. Of course, it didn't tell you where the errord were! Turns out the app was very particular about how dates were entered and you basically had to figure it out. Questions about drinking any alcohol? It mattered if my client has 2 glass of wine a week? Then they ask for the doctor's name and address but don't provide enough space to type in the address. It cut me off halfway.

They also asked race on the 1st app and I freaked out. I actually had to ask my client's race and a black client lost it - demanded to know why it would matter if he was black or white. I got in touch with their legal department and faxed my complaint. About 2 weeks later the questions about race were gone and they sent me a letter stating the only reason they asked those questions was because they had programs to help with medical problems that applied to certain ethnic groups. Wha?
 
Well it appears that they have yet to overcome many of those same issues! They still ask race but it is optional. They still ask about alcohol consumption (oz's/week) and still do not leave enough space to answer questions.

Another hugh problem is that their on-line process does not allow people who use Firefox or Mozilla to enter alpha/numeric input. They really need to address those issues with speed. I know that they only had programmers develop the process with input from corporate zombies- and it shows. They don't have a clue how it works on the mean streets where we all live.

You would think that they had/have enough foresight and capital to invest in something that was more practical. I guess we will have to wait and see.
 
Another hugh problem is that their on-line process does not allow people who use Firefox or Mozilla to enter alpha/numeric input.

Aetna has the producer and application website from hell. They know it but are not breaking any speed records to fix it.

If you are on a Mac or don't use IE, download the free Opera browser and use it. Aetna works fine with it for data entry.

Al
 
I actually find Producer World to be pretty cool. It has a great tutorial on how to use the broker link so clients can run quotes and you can punch into your reward and co-op bonuses and points. It keeps all the past broker alerts, you can view your book of business and not only can you see status updates but so can your clients.
 
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