Did You Know that Obamacrap

GreenSky

Guru
5000 Post Club
15,319
Henderson, NV
....sucks for everyone?

I'm amazed how many agents are surprised commissions are dropping (or have dropped) to zero.

What did you expect?

Rick
 
Beyond the usual annual increase in premiums, do employers/employees with Group insurance feel ObamaCare pain? Not seeing many Obamacare-specific negatives in the forum about Group sales and coverage. Something like 82% of working Americans are on their employer's group plan.
 
Had a client in front of me for 3 hours, calling into MP. We got hung up on 4 times. PURPOSELY!

She was terminated for no reason on her health insurance.

First girl wanted to re-run her, and give her March 1st start date. I said, "No." She was in place with 01/01/2016, verifications were done.

Second man, said I was not authorized to speak on clients behalf. When I said the client was next to me.....he hung up.

Third time, we called in: Girl wanted to know if we spoke to the carrier. I said the client did. She is no longer active. She told us, we had to go back to the carrier. I said, we did not. She hung up.

Fourth time we called in - with Carrier: Girl told us both to shut up, so she can get an idea of what is happening, and she would be back. She hung up. Carrier was like, WTF?

Fifth time: We get a girl who gets the point. We need an escalation done, and she typed it in. She apologized on her other worker's behalf, and to the consumer.

Client stated: "God, thank God, I have you to network this."

That is priceless.
 
Group insurance plans have had significant changes as well. Except for groups under 100 lives (manually rated), the larger groups have not had significant rate changes. However most groups have noticeably higher deductibles and OOP.

Some of the premium increases have been offset by plan changes and employers absorbing the costs.
 
Had a client in front of me for 3 hours, calling into MP. We got hung up on 4 times. PURPOSELY!

Client stated: "God, thank God, I have you to network this."

That is priceless.

Priceless indeed! There's nothing else on Earth like the satisfaction derived from helping people who genuinely appreciate you. Excellent job, GGBH.

----------

Group insurance plans have had significant changes as well. Except for groups under 100 lives (manually rated), the larger groups have not had significant rate changes. However most groups have noticeably higher deductibles and OOP.

Some of the premium increases have been offset by plan changes and employers absorbing the costs.

Thanks for replying Somarco. So, there have been some changes (for the worse) in Group health benefits.

But if Group Plans start emulating what's going on in the Individual Plan segment, don't you think ObamaCare repeal/replace would be a higher priority with Americans?

None of the polls have it at the top of the priority list any longer. If Group Plans started implementing the narrow-network crap, like the IFPlan segment, ObamaCare repeal/replace would be back at the top again, don't cha think?
 
The carrier block is mostly protected against adverse selection by group participation rules. Most plans still have fairly large networks and rate increases are driven by claims experience overall and for that particular group.

Employer contribution also mitigates some of the large rate increases. Baked into the rates all along were waivers for pre-ex and guaranteed issue.

Smaller groups, 50 and under, have been impacted by community rating which doesn't affect larger groups as much.

My wife works in a school system. Premiums have only changed slightly but deductibles,copay's and OOP have increased noticeably. Employees don't make the connection between plan changes and Obamacare. Instead, they blame the carrier and employer.
 
Bob is right, around here small groups have seen around 4%-7% per year rate increases for HD Plans. Co-Pay Plans have averaged around 5%-8%. But OOP Expenses have steadily increased.

A lot of groups have transitioned to high deductible plans because of rate increases and increased OOP. So now there are a lot more small groups with HD Plans combined with a HRA or HSA.
I have seen an big increase in interest for HRAs. Employers would rather take the risk of helping to pay the deductible and hoping that most of the employees do not take full advantage of that reimbursement so the balance rolls over each year. (meaning back to the employer to be used for more reimbursements)

Then you have the various requirements that they have to keep up with like meeting the affordability requirements, the extra tax paperwork, the notices to employees, etc. It has increased both overhead and overall time spent on dealing with health benefits.

And dont forget about the changes to the benefits that were mandated by Obamacare.... and the changes to MLRs... and the increased overhead for the carrier.

Then there is the comp which has reduced significantly.... of course group still pays because it is still profitable for the carrier... $20/m per enrolled employee (not per insured) is better than what the individual market is headed towards. Plus you throw the group life on top of that, and if you have the group health there is no reason why you shouldnt have the dental/vision too. So total you will make closer to $35/m per enrolled employee between those 3 policies alone.

Group Plans have definitely changed. But as mentioned before, most employees do not realize how much it has really changed. For every 10% an employees premiums go up, the employer is likely taking a 12% increase. Ive seen a lot more premium absorption by employers to keep employees happy and to stay compliant.
 
Last edited:
. Employees don't make the connection between plan changes and Obamacare. Instead, they blame the carrier and employer.

That is the way it is set up, Same thing with Part D penalties, the Govt has carrier send letter, Seniors most times blame carrier and think switching companies is the answer, I hate those leads having to explain its not the carrier but a govt penalty
 
I tell them up front it is a TAX that goes to the Treasury, not the carrier. Late enrollment, IRMAA, etc.

All taxes.
 
Back
Top