Question About Health Insurance Commissions

paige23

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I am a relatively new agent. Been concentrating on life insurance exclusively.
I wanted to hear from agents who sold health last year , who are selling it exclusively this year and what do you anticipate earning when the season hits?
I know there are a lot of you who are selling online and over phone as well. I
am interested in hearing what you like, don't like and especially if it would be worth going through a learning curve for me.
I am also entertaining liveops as well. But, I would prefer a little more independence and more money as well.
Thanks in advance for feedback.
Paige
 
I am a relatively new agent. Been concentrating on life insurance exclusively.
I wanted to hear from agents who sold health last year , who are selling it exclusively this year and what do you anticipate earning when the season hits?
I know there are a lot of you who are selling online and over phone as well. I
am interested in hearing what you like, don't like and especially if it would be worth going through a learning curve for me.
I am also entertaining liveops as well. But, I would prefer a little more independence and more money as well.
Thanks in advance for feedback.
Paige

If I were not currently involved in selling health insurance I would not choose this as the time to start.
 
Having started in the health insurance insurance in 1987, now is a GREAT time to get into it! One of the biggest, if not THE, reasons is the expansion of people who can now afford plans.

Not because they have gotten cheaper but because the high % who are eligible for subsidies. Many times takes a $500-$700 and more premium down to $50, $25 and many times even ZERO! AND you get paid on the WHOLE premium including subsidy!
 
If I were not currently involved in selling health insurance I would not choose this as the time to start.

X2.

I have been in the health insurance business since 1975. If not for Obamacare, I would still be actively writing health insurance. I have been winding down my pursuit of new health insurance clients and shifted to other avenues.

A new agent, that does not have a book of renewals will have a hard time making it under the new (raw) deal.
 
Paige....welcome to the forum! One question....responses on both sides!

My two cents....

I love selling health. It's a great time to be selling it. BUT....you have 90 days to figure it out and selling it for 2015 OEP.

If you can do that and afford the marketing to get clients, I would go for it.

Not sure where you are and what is going to determine your commission.

If you want to talk further, feel free to PM me.

Good luck!
 
Thank you so much guys . How difficult is it to learn? Doesn't the internet make it much easier ? Anyway, I am thinking of doing everything online and through leads from katylist mga. I have talked to an agent and gave on here who is doing very well at that , but of course it is slow now. Anyone else do that?
 
I've been selling under age 65 health insurance for 10 years, had a book of biz going into it, had income to survive not being paid for 6 months, did 95% of my clients online, 90% on referrals.................and had my best year ever. It's all situational and dependent on the agents financial situation, selling ability, marketing capability, state you sell in, target client, etc.

Some states, it just didn't work - Like CA or NY or OR / NV, the commish was to low or the exchange didn't work. I also couldn't see writing a whole bunch of 30 yr olds. My average client is over age 50, and being paid on a % of premium, on higher premiums, and bonuses.........the stars lined up.

I don't see a repeat this coming year. To short of an OEP period, especially only 30 days to write to get a Jan 1 eff date.
 
Welcome to the world of insurance. Health insurance for me last year was full of joy and pain. If this year is anything like last year you can expect very slow payment from any exchange business so if I were you I would have a backup plan to pay the monthly bills. I'm in the Mid-Atlantic area. All but one of the carriers permit direct agent contact. Only one carrier has actually paid commissions but they still owe for March and April submissions. Three have acknowledged submitted business and connected it to me but still no payments have been received. The last company a major carrier has basically given me the run around. No response except submit a BOR (broker of record) form to my GA. One of the companies pays a flat yearly rate of $200 per member. So a family of 4 is worth $800 with renewals being 1/2 the first years commissions.
What I like about the arrangement is there are no chargebacks with this company. Your paid then you are done. The worst commission is $15.75 per contract per month while the contract is enforce. If they cancel you will have worked for free. I like the per member per contract per year much better.
If you are going to work on the exchange and are licensed in Healthcare.gov territory you can begin your training now. If not you will need to contact the exchange in your states of appointment to see what they require of you.
If you are not on linkedin I highly suggest you join and submit your questions within the groups. I have personally received a lot of support and advice in the groups there. You can also find a lot of advice here on insurance forum.
It was really really hard last year. I did not seek a lot of new clients but I did receive some via aged leads, referrals from an email blast, and friends by word of mouth and on Faebook. The process was too long and painful to involve a lot of people that I did not know personally.
So have a plan. Seek support. If you read a post that you feel is particularly helpful PM that person. Most people are willing to share advise and tips with you. Most of all be ready to work. Have fun despite the struggles.
 
Thank you so much guys . How difficult is it to learn? Doesn't the internet make it much easier ? Anyway, I am thinking of doing everything online and through leads from katylist mga. I have talked to an agent and gave on here who is doing very well at that , but of course it is slow now. Anyone else do that?

Just my opinion and based on 8 years in the Florida health insurance market-you have to be out of your mind to try to get started in this niche from scratch unless you can support yourself with other income for at least 6-9 months.

You start out at a disadvantage because you are new and don't know the business well enough to give good advice.

It is a seasonal business and Open Enrollment is two months, how do you make a living in the other months? You can't count on enrolling people with QLE's, there aren't enough of them.

You won't get paid for On Exchange business for months and months either.

And, at the end, there is no real long term benefit to building a book of business because renewal commissions sharply drop off after the 2nd year.

I wrote over 125 applications last year during the OEP and had a great year, but I also had 7 prior years to build a reputation that results in a stream of referrals-without that, you would have to spend all of your waking hours on the phone calling 'leads' that will mostly not answer or say 'not interested', if you don't mind all that rejection for low commissions (the average 1st year commission for an average policy of $400 a month will be $20-30 per month) then give it a try.
 
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