Humana MA has changed its AOR change policy

[somarco]

Other than the 2014 rollout of Obamacare, I have lost fewer than a dozen clients via AOR. Most of the time they were snaked by HO employees turning them into house accounts.

This is all U65 health insurance.

Early 2014 I lost about 30 that became house accounts. In almost every situation the client called HO to ask a question and they were converted to house accounts.

Happened with Aetna, BX, Humana (BIG time), Golden Rule.

Don't recall ever losing someone to another agent, nor have I lost any 65+ clients via AOR.

It happens. I hate it. What really bugs me is the dirty tricks the HO will play to take someone in house.

 

[fun2drum]

Other than the 2014 rollout of Obamacare, I have lost fewer than a dozen clients via AOR. Most of the time they were snaked by HO employees turning them into house accounts.

This is all U65 health insurance.

Early 2014 I lost about 30 that became house accounts. In almost every situation the client called HO to ask a question and they were converted to house accounts.

Happened with Aetna, BX, Humana (BIG time), Golden Rule.

Don't recall ever losing someone to another agent, nor have I lost any 65+ clients via AOR.

It happens. I hate it. What really bugs me is the dirty tricks the HO will play to take someone in house.

FWIW, Humana this year began protecting the AOR for agents who's clients are switched by their telemarketing (DMS). I wish they had done that last year. I lost close to 100 members to Humana telemarketing last AEP because there was an HMO rollout in my two counties where I had the most business. They were switching them from PPO to HMO as they called the number from TV, and in the process turning my people into house accounts. I actually had a couple of them call me later to tell me the "good news" that they were staying with Humana and I didn't have to "waste my time" with them. Yes, that's what they were told - that I was very busy with others and they could switch on the phone and still call me for help. I actually got one lead from Humana that when I called told me that he bought over the phone and was told that an agent (me) would come to his house and discuss the plan he'd signed up for. It's a brutal thing to be competing with other agents AND the companies you're contracted with at the same time. Now at least I don't have to worry about Humana's telemarketing stealing my business.

 

[somarco]

Now at least I don't have to worry about Humana's telemarketing stealing my business.

We can only hope . . .

One odd thing about these in house conversions is, if you have a HO rep like I did, that rep get's a "cut" of business I wrote. That includes any bonus earned as well

But when the business becomes a HOUSE account my rep get's nothing.

 

[me112233]

Before you think Humana did this for you, the field agent . . . . Every year, a certain percentage of agents don't recertify for one reason or another, which creates orphaned policyholders that nobody gets a commission on. The old AOR form would allow active agents to pick up some of those orphaned customers; not every AOR sent in was done by bottom-feeding trolls. NOW, under the new rules, the orphaned policyholders are guaranteed "no commission" clients of Humana, because an active agent has no way to pick those clients up. I live in a small town. Maybe four agents here are certified with Humana. Two of the agents are over 75 years old, and not in the best of health. When those agents go on to the agency in the sky, there will be a block of orphaned policyholders, and NOBODY will be getting paid, and an AOR letter can no longer be used for these orphans.

Just like the recerification process 10 years ago, this will serve to cut commissions being paid to agents. What other line of business do you have to "recertify" every year to get your renewals? If you sell a bunch of life insurace over 20 or 30 years, then retire, you know you are getting a stream of income for many more years; sell a bunch of MA/PDP plans over 20 or 30 years, then retire, you get paid nothing beyond the day that you retire. You know for a fact that if the Humana, Aetna, Cigna, and Blue Cross lobbyists went to their contracted surrogates (congressmen) and said,"We don't want our agents to have to recertify just to receive their renewal commissions on policies sold in prior years," we wouldn't be in such a situation today; Big Insurance wants it to be the way that it is. We even have to recertify (if we ant our renewals) when a company has been suspended from selling. There is absolutely no reason that recertification should be so time consuming; not all are -- SilverScript is fairly simple, for example. However, the mandated process from some companies takes 8 to 10 hours to muddle through; I think Wellcare is the absolute worst -- we pay the penalty for all the criminals that ran the company. (And mean that literally, the company was factually and actually run by now convicted criminals who committed bigtime frauds against the government.)

 

[fun2drum]

To be honest, I don't care what reason Humana had in mind when they put a stop to AOR changes - I hope it works out well for them. It also works out well for my clients who've been lied to and manipulated into writing those letters, and it works out well for me too. If I have a product that Humana orphans need more than the one they have, then all I have to do is sell it to them and they automatically have me as their agent. Sure, it requires selling a more beneficial plan to gain the client, but I don't see the problem with that.

 

[wehotex]

To be honest, I don't care what reason Humana had in mind when they put a stop to AOR changes - I hope it works out well for them. It also works out well for my clients who've been lied to and manipulated into writing those letters, and it works out well for me too. If I have a product that Humana orphans need more than the one they have, then all I have to do is sell it to them and they automatically have me as their agent. Sure, it requires selling a more beneficial plan to gain the client, but I don't see the problem with that.

That ONLY works if you’re fortunate enough to live in a market that has many options. If you live in area where there are only 1-3 MA plans, the ability to sell another plan may not be as likely.

 

[fun2drum]

That ONLY works if you’re fortunate enough to live in a market that has many options. If you live in area where there are only 1-3 MA plans, the ability to sell another plan may not be as likely.

I do live in an area that has one to three MA plans, depending on the county. I'm only contracted with three. I didn't say selling is as easy as AOR changes or that you'll sell every prospect. I just said I'm okay with that.

 

[joe92275]

It's about time. Now some agents actually have to work to earn a commission. Good.

 

[neetsiepk]

I don't like the new arrangement. I sell a lot of Humana Medicare Advantage policies and when I run into someone who has Humana, and they take up a lot of my time asking questions about their coverage, etc., I will ask them if they have an agent that they work with at Humana. If they tell me, they don't because they bought their policy over the phone, or have never heard from an agent, I offer my services to be their servicing agent. I have them write an Agent of Record Change form, and I keep in touch with them 3 to 4 times during the year. I know that Humana will contact the writing agent before they assign them to me to give that agent a chance to try to keep them, because my new clients have told me so. Most of these AOR Changes have never heard of the OTC Catalog, and there have been a few that were in the Gold Plan paying co-pays when they were actually on Medicaid and should have been in the SNP Plan. In Louisiana, our Commissioner of Insurance just put out a Bulletin stating that if a Louisiana Resident wants to sign an "Agent of Record Letter" that companies have to accept this. So I expect they will have to return to their past practices, which is fine with me. I have been in the insurance business for 35 years.

 

[fun2drum]

I don't like the new arrangement. I sell a lot of Humana Medicare Advantage policies and when I run into someone who has Humana, and they take up a lot of my time asking questions about their coverage, etc., I will ask them if they have an agent that they work with at Humana. If they tell me, they don't because they bought their policy over the phone, or have never heard from an agent, I offer my services to be their servicing agent. I have them write an Agent of Record Change form, and I keep in touch with them 3 to 4 times during the year. I know that Humana will contact the writing agent before they assign them to me to give that agent a chance to try to keep them, because my new clients have told me so. Most of these AOR Changes have never heard of the OTC Catalog, and there have been a few that were in the Gold Plan paying co-pays when they were actually on Medicaid and should have been in the SNP Plan. In Louisiana, our Commissioner of Insurance just put out a Bulletin stating that if a Louisiana Resident wants to sign an "Agent of Record Letter" that companies have to accept this. So I expect they will have to return to their past practices, which is fine with me. I have been in the insurance business for 35 years.

I assume that in a case like you described in Louisiana, Humana could use the option that they still allow, where the current AOR must submit a form to approve the transfer of AOR to a different agent. If it's a house AOR and it's required by state law then it shouldn't be a problem, but would be harder for agents to abuse. It would force the contact with the current AOR, reducing the confusion and undue hassle for seniors. Just my opinion.