Several years ago we started a series of blogposts modeled after David Letterman's "stupid pet tricks". We called it "Stupid Carrier Tricks".
Seemed appropriate enough.
Most of the time we named the carrier along with their missteps. Sometimes we didn't. It has been a while since I posted anything in the "stupid" series but I might just unleash another one very soon.
Recently two of my "go to" Medigap carriers have delivered out-of-the-ordinary (higher than usual) rate increases. One decided to do it mid-year. The other is rolling them out monthly on the policyholder anniversary.
A little over a week ago I was notified of 53 mid-year increases ranging from 10% to over 15%. Past increases have been less than 6% so these are unusual. Some coming 9 months after the last increase for a few of my clients. Others are 12 month out or longer.
If all were healthy I could justify moving 51 of the 53 to other carriers. The other 2 would save less than $7 to change.
What really annoys me is the stupidity of this kind of move by the carrier. Their new rates means their block is vulnerable. Many healthy people will move while sick people stay behind. This creates more instability which will trigger even higher increases in the future.
You would think they would have better sense, but apparently not. It's almost as if they came out of a fog and noticed the block was souring.
It really doesn't matter why. All I know is that I have over 80 renewals to deal with in the next few weeks. At least it didn't happen during AEP.
Seemed appropriate enough.
Most of the time we named the carrier along with their missteps. Sometimes we didn't. It has been a while since I posted anything in the "stupid" series but I might just unleash another one very soon.
Recently two of my "go to" Medigap carriers have delivered out-of-the-ordinary (higher than usual) rate increases. One decided to do it mid-year. The other is rolling them out monthly on the policyholder anniversary.
A little over a week ago I was notified of 53 mid-year increases ranging from 10% to over 15%. Past increases have been less than 6% so these are unusual. Some coming 9 months after the last increase for a few of my clients. Others are 12 month out or longer.
If all were healthy I could justify moving 51 of the 53 to other carriers. The other 2 would save less than $7 to change.
What really annoys me is the stupidity of this kind of move by the carrier. Their new rates means their block is vulnerable. Many healthy people will move while sick people stay behind. This creates more instability which will trigger even higher increases in the future.
You would think they would have better sense, but apparently not. It's almost as if they came out of a fog and noticed the block was souring.
It really doesn't matter why. All I know is that I have over 80 renewals to deal with in the next few weeks. At least it didn't happen during AEP.