String of Bad Luck . . . Or the Norm?

[Crabcake Johnny]

My decline rate now on individual health insurance is about 50%

Have you bothered to read your underwriting guides? I have fewer than 10% declines and most of those are surprises where someone failed to mention things that are in MIB.

I'm about 2% decline rate and just as you said - only for MIB hits. Aside from that I have pre-screens and underwriting guidelines. If your turn-down rate is 50% you're doing something drastically wrong. Heck, I lose Top Producers Club status with an issue rate less than 80%.

 

[Dave020]

Well,

First a decent percentage of the applications are done online through my broker portals so I don't always have a chance to interview the applicant before they apply.

Second, I talked to an underwriter supervisor at Blue Cross CA about a year ago and she has been there since, well, forever. She told me flat out that CA population health issues are worse than ANY other state in the country. Trust me, in your state your worst case scenarios are the cream of the crop out here. Cancer rates are much higher than the national average and since everything is trendy here in terms of mental health, well, those trips to the therapist and that prozac sure didn't help. I'd say just about everyone in CA has allergies to some degree, guess what, that's a decline if you take anything for them.

As to underwriting guidelines, yes I have the booklets to refer to as well as being able to talk to underwriting before I have the client apply. It sucks when they tell you , go ahead it's probably level 1 + 25% or so only to have the declined for exactly what they told you would only be rated.

What I am doing wrong simply is trying to help people that other agents have turned away. I am often not the first one they talked to, just the one that wants to help them. I don't cherry pick clients. That is why I write more HIPAA than probably any other agent in CA. 40-50 a month I submit under HIPAA.

Just FYI, California is DANGEROUSLY close to getting state run universal health care, dangerously close. Everytime an agent blows off a less than healthy prospect (which happens every second out here) it is just more ammunition for Jackie Spieir and others to proclaim the need for socialized medicine in California. I would like to stay in business so I will try and write everything to try and get people some insurance.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Well,

First a decent percentage of the applications are done online through my broker portals so I don't always have a chance to interview the applicant before they apply.

.

Well that explains it. I can't imagine how many deals make it through Ehealthinsurance if client choose not to call a rep before applying. You obviously have no control if the client applies on their own.

 

[Dave020]

that is certainly part of it, John. But in that case I figure let them throw themselves against the wall and we'll see what sticks.

Ehealth is a monster, largest producer of individual in CA. I have heard several thousand apps a month so I would wonder what their decline rate would be.

Personally I hate underwriting as it is like engineering, find out what's wrong not what's right.

I prefer guaranteed-issue products simply for ease of enrollment and the fact that I know I can place the client.

Good weekend everyone, I am off to Reserve Duty!

Dave

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I run it just like a business - strictly profit and loss. My leads cost $6 on average and I close 1 out of 15 with my average commission being $800. That's $90 of expense to return $800. If you can find another business with that profit margin let me know. I do this all home based - 8am to 6pm with no nights or weekends. Saying that, individual health is not everyone's cup of tea.

 

[somarco]

CA population health issues are worse than ANY other state in the country

I find that very hard to believe.

What I might accept is utilization is higher than the norm due to a preponderance of low deductible, copay plans.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

There's studies out on the healthiest states - Hawaii is the healthiest and West Virginia the unhealthiest. There's a lot of interesting data here: http://www.statehealthfacts.org/cgi-bin/healthfacts.cgi - compare cancer rates for example: http://www.statehealthfacts.org/cgi...ory=Cancer&topic=Cancer+Incidence+per+100,000

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Interesting - state with most amount of uninsured? Texas. I guess that's why Scott's so busy.

http://www.statehealthfacts.org/cgi...wregions=0&from=none&sortby=Uninsured#sorttop