Obama Care Survival Guide

[deathbyaca14]

Greetings Ladies & Gents,

I'm an Indy Agent in West Michigan, drownding in the noise with lack of substance that Obama Care is creating. I've taken to reading this specific forum and all the online resources I can find but still feel inadequate.

I may be the only one but when I read these documents that are released I feel dumber. It seems like an attempt I've made at getting grasp on this ACA animal is futile. Customer ask questions and its pretty disheartening to not feel confident in your specific duties as an agent to not be 100% on customer service in this area.

Its a slower renewal time currently for my client base right now as I've been putting a lot of time in trying to learn all that I can but it seems I never gain much of a foot hold. I sure hope i'm not the only one that feels like Billy Madison when he is awarded no points makes the crowd dumber for having listened to him.

It seems comical yet completely frustrating to be in this positional, at some points of the day you don't know whether to laugh, cry, or try that whole jumping off a bridge over a shallow creek type of thing.

I ran accross this survival guide thing and though it's not geared for I think someone in the insurance producer education but consumer. Has anyone purchased this and found some good value in it?

I sure hope i'm not the only one that feels this way.

 

[ctg]

No, you are not alone. It's a moving target we're trying to keep up with. The carriers can't give a straight answer; they don't know either.

I'd suggest reading Ann H's posts on the subject.

 

[Ann H]

NO! You're not the only one who feels this way. We all do. I've even thought of taking NAHU's $495 PPACA certification course, because they promise to keep you up-to-date! I'm just not too certain about the level of common sense that I will learn from it, and whether or not it will be applicable to my own client base.

I nominate YAgents to write a guide for agents. He's so knowledgeable! He's so practical, too. If he could put it all down in an e-book for us, I know I would buy it!

Most likely, by July we will have facts. The rules & regs should slow down somewhat, the carriers will have products and rates, and we will have enough data to answer client's initial questions. Then the real fun begins. I expect some major changes on the horizon.

So.... in the wise words of our own TaterPeeler. Just sell it. It's like MS and MAPD open enrollment, where you don't know the details until the weekend before open enrollment begins anyway. So start selling, and keep learning at the same time.
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No, you are not alone. It's a moving target we're trying to keep up with. The carriers can't give a straight answer; they don't know either.

I'd suggest reading Ann H's posts on the subject.

Well, oops! I read CTG's post after I finished typing my own post. If I had known I would be promoted to top of the reading list, I would have written a better post! LOL. Yet I still nominate YAgents.

You know, I have been thinking that it would be good for us all to write down the resources that we find the most valuable in keeping up-to-date with PPACA. For me personally, I plan to go back to the beginning, read the basics all over again, then start researching each major topic that applies directly to my client base. If I can do that, and incorporate all the changes to-date, I would feel like I have more of a handle on it.

Yet still, having it all in one book would be nice...

 

[ctg]

+1 on Bill. He just yesterday helped me with some HSA questions. He didn't have to, but did. Thanks Bill!

Aren't we a lovey-dovey forum now! Even Rick loves (almost) everyone.

 

[deathbyaca14]

Yeah, I'm aware of Bill this quote below sold me on him. I'm no where near the time on the industry as most of you seem to have but this guys seems to have it together on all health insurance levels.

Bob, You may have age and experience on your side, but I have youth and flexibility on mine. I've been part of two transforming markets over my short 20 year career and called both of them right.

For the first 10 yrs, I was a wholesaler to traditional stockbrokers. My job was to convert long term commissioned stockbrokers into fee based financial advisors selling no load mutual funds. Looking back over the past 20 years, the transition has occurred, and buying stock through a broker no longer exists. Fee based advising has grown dramatically and is a majority of the managed money today.

When I broke into the health business in 2004, HSA's became law. The old dog agent who trained me said that HSA's will never sell, and didn't make sense. I disagreed, and built my entire biz on HSA's. Looking back over the past 10 yrs, it's the biggest growing segment in health insurance market. In addition, I chose to never sell group plans, and only sold IFP. Which segment has grown, and which has gone down?

So, here we are today, with big changes again on the horizon. You can either figure out where the puck is going, or be rigid and go extinct. So, I'm going with my gut this time again and I'm positioned well for the upcoming changes. I do appreciate your insight and experience, as I need a push back, reality checks, and arguments to confirm or deny my thought process. That's why I love this board, it keeps me on my feet and keeps me thinking.

 

[Yagents]

Thanks for the kudos to both of you.

Chris, i updated the HSA chart with 2013 numbers

For those of you selling HSA's, I've attached a graph that easily explains how an HSA is 2 parts, and how they interact with each other. Feel free to use it.

For more savings account education, all of you agents should be sending your clients to my www.HSAconsumer.com website. You focus on the insurance, let me focus on the savings account where you don't make any money, nor do I.

 

[insuranceconceptscindy]

I actually bought the book!
Haven't had a chance to read it yet. I'll let you know when I'm done.
To echo the points above: I've learned more from the other agents on the forum than I have anywhere else.

 

[somarco]

Let's all join hands and sing Kum-Ba-Ya

 

[GreenSky]

Let's all join hands and sing Kum-Ba-Ya

I love you for that suggestion.

Rick

 

[somarco]

I love you for that suggestion.