If You Only Sell Health Insurance...

[insurehound]

...you better learn to sell other products! I went to our local chapter of the Health Underwriter's meeting yesterday. We had a panel of all the major Health Insurance companies that sell in our state (Aetna, Blue Shield, Anthem, Cigna, United, Kaiser and HealthNet).

The major message taken away between the BS that they usually give is that you better diversify in what you sell as the future for Health Insurance is, at best, unknown and more specifically, what role the agent is going to play.

So for all those who say that you are better off specializing in one insurance product offering, you better dust off those Life, DI, LTCi or Annuity sales skills! Or start thinking "order-taker" for the government versus "salesperson" in the free-market.

On a positive note, the chicken lunch was pretty good

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I'm sure we'll all have plenty of head's up if any change is coming that will impact the ability to sell health.

Legislation must be drafted, signed into law and implemented. That can't be done in a week so it's not like agents are going to wake up to a bulletin one day that says "stop selling."

We'll probably have a full year's head up -

 

[HomeService]

With this major med deal starting to blow up, and the MA market going south, and the mortgage protection market going south- all this combined- is why we are seeing a lot of folks jumping into final expense sales.

 

[LGilmore]

"We'll probably have a full year's head up -"

I think we'll have far more than that. We are such a small cost driver in the loop that simply removing us from the equation will give little relief. Costs will continue to rise and it will not change.

We are not the reason costs rise.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

If we were to implement any type of universal or single payer system it would be at least 4 years from the introduction of legislation or implementation.

MA was putting their program together five years before it was implemented. Even if we got a single payer system or any system which eliminated agents, by the time it was put in place, health insurance agents who kicked it out would be on the beach sucking down Pina Coladas.

Yeah...we'd have to find something to do after that - be not before touring Europe first.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

If we can make it to 2014...I would be happy.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I love how the liberals act like the day after Obama gets sworn in we get health care reform. Maybe....maybe you'd see something in his second term.

 

[somarco]

Don't believe everything you see, hear or read.

 

[JRoot]

Because of these unprecedented times we're in, I don't think you can look at history and determine how long we have...IF agents are eliminated. There's too many shifts and changes going on to predict anything right now.

 

[Alston]

We'll probably have a full year's head up -

It took me a long time to get good at selling health insurance. I don't know about the rest of you, but a year may not be enough time for me.

4 years probably would be, but to be safe I'm actively sewing my parachute now. I'm still putting a lot of time into selling insurance. Last year was probably my most productive.

However, if I wait until every other agent is sewing their parachute, there may not be enough thread left for me!

Diversification is good in any economic environment. You may find that another line of insurance or another business is actually more profitable. I don't think that it is time to stop selling health insurance, but investing 10% of your efforts in something else could have its benefits.