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The sad thing about this, is that a lot of the jobs cut were in the training divisions. Never knew they had one... but I guess they did.
Medi C & D Insurers Plummet
- Thread starter MedSuppPro
- Start date
The sad thing about this, is that a lot of the jobs cut were in the training divisions. Never knew they had one... but I guess they did.
- Thread starter
- #62
- 1,255
More tight margins for "over funded" MA plans.
Coventry Health Care 2Q profit drops 45 percent
No wounder the industry wants levelized commissions! And to think some of you believe levelized commissions will stifle agent marketing abuses. Nope. Look at Anthem, they have had levelized commissions since 2003 and they have their fair share of marketing issues.
Be careful for what you wish for!
Coventry Health Care 2Q profit drops 45 percent
No wounder the industry wants levelized commissions! And to think some of you believe levelized commissions will stifle agent marketing abuses. Nope. Look at Anthem, they have had levelized commissions since 2003 and they have their fair share of marketing issues.
Be careful for what you wish for!
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So far in KC, where MA plans are strong, Coventry is expanding, Humana is maintaining, and the rest are just trying to get some scraps.
- Thread starter
- #64
- 1,255
Midwestbroker -- is that a mug-shot of you?
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You are the 2nd person to ask that...
That is the character from the show The Office, Dwight.
What, no one watches the office in here? Gotta be one of the funniest shows on TV!
That is the character from the show The Office, Dwight.
What, no one watches the office in here? Gotta be one of the funniest shows on TV!
- 7,066
More tight margins for "over funded" MA plans.
Coventry Health Care 2Q profit drops 45 percent
No wounder the industry wants levelized commissions! And to think some of you believe levelized commissions will stifle agent marketing abuses. Nope. Look at Anthem, they have had levelized commissions since 2003 and they have their fair share of marketing issues.
Be careful for what you wish for!
That is a very interesting article but what does it have to do with agent abuses and levelized commissions you mentioned above?
Unless I missed something the article only talked about their profits dropping to fifty some cents a share from ninety plus cents a share.
I didn't see anything about levelized commissions or agent abuse when selling their plans.
They attribute their lose to a sharp growth in medical expenses not commissions or abuses by agents. They said their medical expenses rose 41 percent.
I still believe that agents are being paid way too much for placing, they really aren't sold especially the zero premium ones, Medicare Advantage plans with special emphasis on the PFFS plans.
I also believe that putting MA commissions close to Med Supp commissions, specifically PFFS plans, will go a long way to dramatically reduce the current abuse.
- Thread starter
- #67
- 1,255
Frank -- Here is just one response. Pretend for a moment that today your a CFO of an MA carrier.
Today, if your siting in a boardroom of an carrier with an MA product that has a "91% loss ratio" you are siting on a time bomb. Understand that some carriers are months behind on paying MA claims. So 91% could be a much bigger percentage down the road. And as a CFO you already know this.
And so your siting at the table with only a couple of choices. Your MA 2009 plan bid is at CMS and your not able to change much about your plan design. So, you could stop selling or cut costs. Or maybe you could lay a few employees off.
Well, do you see my point? I have a theory that this is the year you'll see a few non-profitable carriers cry for levelized commissions in order to cut-costs. Having CMS levelized commissions is a cost cutter that all carrier would have to follow. Competition is healthy. Last year we saw carriers up their commissions in an effort to capture market share.
Today, I'm looking at a carrier whom has a product line that is ready to take a huge portion of market share. Let the market take care of this. We are at the point of the MA market cycle were we will see more consolidation and fewer players. Frank -- your MedSupps will stay on the books because of your professionalism and not because MA plans go levelized. Carriers and agents whom push levelized commissions are tempting fate.
Today, if your siting in a boardroom of an carrier with an MA product that has a "91% loss ratio" you are siting on a time bomb. Understand that some carriers are months behind on paying MA claims. So 91% could be a much bigger percentage down the road. And as a CFO you already know this.
And so your siting at the table with only a couple of choices. Your MA 2009 plan bid is at CMS and your not able to change much about your plan design. So, you could stop selling or cut costs. Or maybe you could lay a few employees off.
Well, do you see my point? I have a theory that this is the year you'll see a few non-profitable carriers cry for levelized commissions in order to cut-costs. Having CMS levelized commissions is a cost cutter that all carrier would have to follow. Competition is healthy. Last year we saw carriers up their commissions in an effort to capture market share.
Today, I'm looking at a carrier whom has a product line that is ready to take a huge portion of market share. Let the market take care of this. We are at the point of the MA market cycle were we will see more consolidation and fewer players. Frank -- your MedSupps will stay on the books because of your professionalism and not because MA plans go levelized. Carriers and agents whom push levelized commissions are tempting fate.
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Frank -- Here is just one response. Pretend for a moment that today your a CFO of an MA carrier.
Today, if your siting in a boardroom of an carrier with an MA product that has a "91% loss ratio" you are siting on a time bomb. Understand that some carriers are months behind on paying MA claims. So 91% could be a much bigger percentage down the road. And as a CFO you already know this.
And so your siting at the table with only a couple of choices. Your MA 2009 plan bid is at CMS and your not able to change much about your plan design. So, you could stop selling or cut costs. Or maybe you could lay a few employees off.
Well, do you see my point? I have a theory that this is the year you'll see a few non-profitable carriers cry for levelized commissions in order to cut-costs.
That is a theory and might be a good one but the opposite theory might have merit too. One could easily argue that some of these plans that are in trouble financially are crappy plans and it is only the high commissions that keeps agents bringing business to their doors. So if you levelize the commissions their plans go deeper into a death spiral because there are fewer agents promoting them. The couple hundred extra dollars they would save if agent commissions are reduced and levelized an is not much to offset the loss of revenue from a low service plan with jacked up rates.
Undoubtedly, it will play out differently with different companies but I am not convinced yet that most companies would like the idea of levelized commissions. That puts them in the position of having sales people selling plans based on their merits. That isnt going to work for many carriers is it?
Winter
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Very well said. Your posts are always well written and informative.
I agree that regardless of the amount of commission paid to an agent, it is not going to offset the loss of revenue and enable a company with a crappy plan to continue offering it.
The companies with the best plans will survive, the others probably should have not been "players" to begin with.
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