Guaranteed issue coming to your neigborhood soon

No, I can both train/coach and sell, in any industry, so I'm fine, thanks.

And as I said, we can't do a thing it about until if, and when it happens.

Could be that you find some information scary for personal or professional reasons.

Since you've been whining about it for the last two years, are you finished yet?

Can't help you with that. My point for the last two years has consistently been that health care reform in not gong to blow over and go away as so many here have predicted and that guaranteed issue is coming- period.
 
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I've been hearing that GI is "just around the corner" since '03 - a bit burnt out on the subject to be honest.

Most of the people brining it up only do so to elicit a response out of health insurance agents...as if we'd all be out of work and homeless if we got universal healthcare.

So let's be clear - if we got universal healthcare tomorrow the first thing I'd do it sit on a beach on Cancun for a month and chill. Then I'd sell life - wow...really big deal huh.

As previously stated - when it actually happens it happens. Discussing it until then it like talking about a manned mission to Mars. It's possible - but when will it happen.
 
So let's be clear - if we got universal healthcare tomorrow the first thing I'd do it sit on a beach on Cancun for a month and chill. Then I'd sell life - wow...really big deal huh.

Unfortunately the domain ILIAA.com has been taken!

I was hoping to register the California Health Insurance Agent Association, or CHIAA for short. That way when female agents joined, they would be known as Chiaa Pets.

Rick
 
I'm taking the same approach. Business as usual until something actually changes, then I'll adapt and switch gears. My work ethic and ability to get in front of people will leave me in a good position no matter what changes.
 
This is all very cute. I'm more interested in the statistics comparing Johns Hopkins to every other hospital in the country. I see a whole lot of bitching about insurance companies in politics and not nearly enough bitching about HEALTH CARE COSTS. Everyone wants to pass the buck onto someone else.

Go to HospitalVictims.com - Helping you fight for reasonable hospital prices and health care costs! and check out the charge to cost ratios. Some hospitals are charging 300% to 600% above their costs to patients. Johns Hopkins has a whopping 117% profit margin above their costs. You have to wonder who's really making all the money in the health industry... because as a previous poster already brought to our attention - taxes are a real bitch.

Hospitals are writing all their losses off on their taxes, and as most of them are set up as non-profit organizations, they have the luxury of getting huge tax breaks anyway. By the end of the day, they look as though they are owed more money on paper. In actuality, they're pigs at the trough taking advantage of every sick and injured person that comes through their ER.

Socialized medicine... well, it's a whole lot better than the alternative... selective medicine that only goes to those who can afford it, or as it is now, those whose health qualifies them for it.

(Just thought I'd advocate the other extreme a bit to get the ball rolling here... not that it really needed it, but I'm interested in who has what to say about it).
 
Devil's advocate is always fun. thought I'd point out another area that hasn't been brought up in the GI, high health care costs discussion.

Sometimes people forget that the costs of their health care are reflective of the quality of care they receive, representative of how adept the physicians are (yes, you are paying for their education) and what drives medical progress. Yes, there is a standard of care that must be meet, and I don't see any hospital or health care center falling below that standard intentionally. But the mark-up for better care does serve a purpose. I expect a much higher standard of care at Johns Hopkins than I do from the only "medical center" in my podunk town, I also have the ability to chose whether or not to go to Johns Hopkins, Yale Medical center, or the local medical center.

Higher priced hospitals are usually associated with large universities and research centers. The higher costs of the hospital fund research, research teams, pay for residencies, give scholarships (many times to students who couldn't otherwise afford the education). All this improves the technology that eventually is available to everyone and raises the basic standard of care across the board. Think where we would be today with open heart surgery if it weren't for the research at Johns Hopkins and Dr. Thomas in the 30's and 40's. The research that was funded for a simple heart bypass on newborns came from that over priced hospital. It is now a procedure that is considered basic standard care (and has been for a long time) and has saved countless lives regardless of ability to pay.

How does this relate to GI and mandated insurance? All insurance carriers have networks and consumers chose to pay for better networks that have better doctors. Hopefully the government is smart enough to not completely socialize health care and do away with the health care network system on top of it (I know, could be putting too much faith in government there). Those who can afford it and are willing to pay will still receive a higher standard of care than those who can not afford it. It probably will work the same way mandated car insurance has. You get more coverage and perks (like accident forgiveness) if you chose to pay for it, if not, you only have basic liability coverage and pay uninsured/under insured motorist coverage for people who chose to ignore the law.

There will still be a place for independent agents for consumers who want to weigh their options, have the choices explained to them, and make an informed decision. It will probably be the same people who buy individual health insurance now. There's an income bracket that can't afford health insurance with the current system and they don't qualify for medicaid. They're not customers now, and many probably won't be under a mandated health care system. They will only purchase minimal insurance and not need an agent.

I have no doubt in my mind that Medicare Part C is the test run for the US version of socialized health care and a preview of things to come. Hopefully the government (again placing a lot of faith in the government) will work out the kinks with medicare before the whole system is socialized so we don't have to go through all this crap again.:1arghh:

Whether it happens tomorrow, next year or 20 years from now is unimportant, because it hasn't happened yet. All anyone can do is hope for the best and plan for the worst. Until the law is enacted, everything else is just speculation and like debating whether or not heaven actually exists as a place; no one knows until they actually see it.
 
Actually, you can plan for the best. Hope is not a strategy.

All anyone can do is hope for the best and plan for the worst. Until the law is enacted, everything else is just speculation and like debating whether or not heaven actually exists as a place; no one knows until they actually see it.
 
This is all very cute. I'm more interested in the statistics comparing Johns Hopkins to every other hospital in the country. I see a whole lot of bitching about insurance companies in politics and not nearly enough bitching about HEALTH CARE COSTS. Everyone wants to pass the buck onto someone else.

Go to HospitalVictims.com - Helping you fight for reasonable hospital prices and health care costs! and check out the charge to cost ratios. Some hospitals are charging 300% to 600% above their costs to patients. Johns Hopkins has a whopping 117% profit margin above their costs. You have to wonder who's really making all the money in the health industry... because as a previous poster already brought to our attention - taxes are a real bitch.

During the campaign both Hillary and Obama said that under their respective proposals the government would simply tell the insurance carriers what the premiums will be. No discussion of health care costs or containment or what it would look like if the premiums are below costs.

Yes we can.
 
So let's be clear - if we got universal healthcare tomorrow the first thing I'd do it sit on a beach on Cancun for a month and chill. Then I'd sell life - wow...really big deal huh.

And from what I've read from you, you'd probably make more $$.

There is no real downside for people willing to work, but being forced to change your game, when you've got it down pat, is always disconcerting.

Its not a matter, to me, of the sky falling, as much as having to transition back to life and related products full time, and whatever quasi health insurance products await.

I really don't like thinking about having to give it up. Health has been a great ride, the constant processing of applications, the consistency of the biz, and the uniform way(compared to life) that applications are handled in underwriting has made it a highly desirable concentration.

You can make a tremendous living in life insurance, but you will want to start drinking during the day, and that's not good for business.
 
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