Group Health Producers

[dandan]

This thread has gotten a lot of response, I take it none of you write this size of a group. I only asked if you have any creative suggestions, I was just bouncing this off of what I thought might be an intelligent board.

If I get into the design and quoting and feel I am over my head, I have one of the top large group producers at my disposal.

I don't know if its feelings of inadequacy or what, but anytime a newbie comes on with a question the old timers feel a need to put down or ridicule them. Maybe its the gang mentality, who knows.

Thank you for all the creative advice, and way to think out of the box!

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

We do not mean to put you down or ridicule you at all. If it came across like that I apologize. You were looking for creative suggestions for a rather large group and I think overwhelming the response has been that you're simply not going to get creative suggestions for a group of that size from a message board. There are simply too many factors involved.

 

[James]

First thing, what kind of time frame are you working on? Do you have several months to put something together or is it one of those "I need this last week!"?

Okay, when and reread your original post, just take the "AOR" and work on improving the plan from there. A no brainer.

 

[Sam]

Dan, if someone had given me the advice to partner up with someone who knew more than me about that particular market when I got started selling group health, then I would have a lot more money today. I lost more than one large case because I didn't realize how complicated large groups can be.

If you want to get creative then before you look to change the plan design, you need to analyze the claims.

Look through the paid claims monitoring report of the incumbent carrier to see how their claims are running. Benchmark the numbers for each niche against the natural % to see if anything is running higher than trend. If your % of paid claims is weighted towards RX, then that is the first area you can look towards tweaking. If the physician or outpatient claims are higher than they should be, then that is another place to shave some fat.

However, make sure that you look at the shock claims, especially the paid number, to be certain that the utilization isn't weighed down by large claims, because if it is, then tweaking won't do what you need it to. If the claims information is credible (18 months or longer) then it should be fairly easy to tweak the plan design to save some money.

You should also ask the carriers for cost decrements to see how much tweaking will bring down the premium. Once you have this, you are ready to get creative with the plan design. Remember that with small group, it is what it is. With large group, you really need to take a strategic look at what plan changes will do for your future claims. You usually don't want to get the premiums to be unnaturally low for a year, because you will always pay the price later anyway. It is much better to tailor the design around the claims, so that you help secure long-term reductions.

 

[dandan]

Thanks Melmunch, that is very good and thought out information.

I appreciate it, and I have until 08/01/08 so I have time for homework.

 

[James]

Thanks Melmunch, that is very good and thought out information.

I appreciate it, and I have until 08/01/08 so I have time for homework.

Oh My! You Only Have 6 Months!​

 

[My Health & Income]

This thread has gotten a lot of response, I take it none of you write this size of a group. I only asked if you have any creative suggestions, I was just bouncing this off of what I thought might be an intelligent board.

If I get into the design and quoting and feel I am over my head, I have one of the top large group producers at my disposal.

I don't know if its feelings of inadequacy or what, but anytime a newbie comes on with a question the old timers feel a need to put down or ridicule them. Maybe its the gang mentality, who knows.

Thank you for all the creative advice, and way to think out of the box!

I don't think anyone is putting you down. If you don't know how much there is to learn, then you don't know how much you don't know.
For instance, why a 125 plan? Does he want to offer his employees a platinum plan, or the most cost effective plan?
No one on here is going to design the plan for you and then hand it to you. It's too much work, and although we're here to help, this is what we do for a living.

I've lost count of the number of splits I've done thoughout the years, for one reason or another, but the primary concern was servicing the client in a timely and professional manner. Why are you so adverse to splitting your first substantial group?

 

[My Health & Income]

I have a question for the group producers.

I have a good friend who has a company with 125-130 employess, he knows I don't do group but he wants me to be his agent and quote the group anyway. He said he would give me a agent of record letter, but wants me to get creative with his coverage. He has a traditional ppo 1500 ded, $30 co pay 70/30. Any suggestions?

Custom HRA, HSA with supps for gaps until HSA's accounts are funded sufficiently.

That will do it.

lol

 

[dandan]

I never asked anybody here to design a plan for me. I guess your confused, I can only imagine your presentations.

This will excite you, this is my last post on this site.

I have been a licensed independant agent since 1982, I enjoy fresh and new ideas, clearly neither found here.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Speaking for me, I don't want to lose you from the board. I simply think you asked a question that over most of our heads.