Considering if a career in insurance is right for me

[BFerguson]

Hi. I am from Pennsylvania, 47 years old and currently work in healthcare in scheduling and have worked in various aspects of for almost my entire career. I have a family and I currently carry the health insurance for our family. I make $27000 a year.

I did have a MLM sales position for about 8 months over 6 years ago, the product changed and sales started to dwindle and I no longer believed in the product so I phased out of the business but in that period these were my sale stats:

• Trained and assisted a 10-person sales team.
  
  
• Provided support for a 200+ person worldwide customer base in the health and wellness industry.
  
  
• Managed a Facebook group of over 20,000 people and identified potential leads through effective advertisement.

I am good with people, some may say really good. I take pride in helping people and providing service that they are not receiving in my office. The difficult patients ask for me because they know I will go above and beyond for them. Outside agencies have expressed concern when I was filling in at another office because they could not talk to me....you get the idea. I am a hard worker mostly use my PTO for doctors appointments for my kids and an occasional long weekend. Kids are all over 11 years old

My husband works commission only job but is fairly stable with his pay but no way for family to get on his plan at $900 a month rate. With my medical background, I feel I would do well with being a health insurance agent but I am open to other types as well.

I know there are no guarantees but is it reasonable to find an insurance position that would net me what I currently make while also paying for health insurance? The job advertisements seem too good to be true.

 

[DHK]

With my medical background, I feel I would do well with being a health insurance agent but I am open to other types as well.

I'd like to challenge you a little bit. Don't think about being a product advocate with your medical background, but being a client advocate and helping them solve problems through your products.

Think about the kinds of people you believe you'd do well with and how you can help them. You may find this video helpful to some possibilities.

 

[BFerguson]

I'd like to challenge you a little bit. Don't think about being a product advocate with your medical background, but being a client advocate and helping them solve problems through your products.

Think about the kinds of people you believe you'd do well with and how you can help them. You may find this video helpful to some possibilities.

Thank you for sharing the video. I learned a lot from it!

 

[TRG1225]

Hi. I am from Pennsylvania, 47 years old and currently work in healthcare in scheduling and have worked in various aspects of for almost my entire career. I have a family and I currently carry the health insurance for our family. I make $27000 a year.

I did have a MLM sales position for about 8 months over 6 years ago, the product changed and sales started to dwindle and I no longer believed in the product so I phased out of the business but in that period these were my sale stats....

Hi. I'm a health insurance agent who just left a captive job in September to go independent.

I started at Humana in mid 2018, and went over to Anthem BCBS. Anthem made my mind up that I would rather just be independent.

In 2018 at Humana, I made about 31K with good benefits (remember I started in June). I'm not a pushy salesperson at all, and they have this weird inbound/outbound tiering system that was tied to appointment selling, and not sales (that has since changed, only after I left of course). They do keep pressure on you, but their training is top notch and if and when you go to another company, you'll be shocked how much more knowledge you have then people who have been at this a decade or longer, in many cases.

My second year, I did 62K while missing 3 months for vacation and surgery. I know that independents can make much more if they can just get through the first year grind. The ability to sell multiple carriers and lines in order to truly meet more clients' needs makes me optimistic about being independent, even though I'm anxious to death half the time.

The health insurance is a high deductible health plan, but it is quite affordable, and it saved the day when my daughter broke her leg and ankle in April of 2019.

In January 2020, I took a job at Anthem in a weird "retention" role that was hybrid sales/customer service. Ended up acting as de facto manager of the team until they decided the permanent hire needed to be someone who had been waiting in line longer with the company.

If I were you, I'd start by looking for a job with Humana, United, etc. They aren't hiring now as AEP is underway, but Humana usually opens up hiring around late April/May. Even if they don't have a call center near you, more companies are going toward work from home now, so you should still be able to apply, I would think. They paid for my license and the training needed, and their level of training has put me at an advantage compared to most I see out here.

There is also plenty wrong with Humana and every other big captive Medicare insurer, but that's another topic for another day.

In Medicare insurance, initial training is very critical, IMO. So is continued sharpening of the skills and knowing your products inside and out. Humana does a great job of that, even though they can be pretty uptight. At least two years with an outfit like that can really set you up to where you're confident once you make the jump to independent like I just have.

Good luck.

 

[BFerguson]

I assumed most likely I would need to wait to be licensed before applying. I am currently studying for exam and wish I would have taken more action to do so earlier so I could do open enrollment.

 

[TRG1225]

I assumed most likely I would need to wait to be licensed before applying. I am currently studying for exam and wish I would have taken more action to do so earlier so I could do open enrollment.

While getting your license would be great and show incentive, I got into Humana with no license. With your background, you should at least be able to score the interview. They paid for the training and license and it worked out.

When you say "Open Enrollment," you mean OEP for ACA? Or AEP for Medicare (OEP for Medicare is Jan-March)? Sorry to be anal about it, but it's a big difference, IMO between working for someone captive selling Medicare and working for someone captive selling ACA. You couldn't pay me to go to an interview with a captive U65 company, regardless if its the insurer or 3rd party doing the hiring.