The Future of Health Insurance

[Tkruger]

Ah, I'm guessing based on your location that you are a Blue rep.

It all makes sense now.

 

[traceyemoon]

I never start people who want to see what is available to them in the bronze plans. I start them in the Silver and go up or down as they see fit & ask more questions. Sticker-shock can go one of two ways: cost of the premium or amount of the deductible. Most of my clients chose higher premiums.

 

[Brian F 11]

Ah, I'm guessing based on your location that you are a Blue rep. It all makes sense now.

No. Quite the opposite TK. We wrote everyone but FL Blue.

You commented on my original post that was complaining about them and the ACA Market around here, months ago. You must have been combing over old ACA posts.

Anyway, NOT a fan of them, don't work for them, don't write them don't refer business to them either, most of all, NOT a FL Blue Agent. Refuse to sell out to a company who only allows you to write their products. I do what's best for each customer, not sell them on one carrier.

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I never start people who want to see what is available to them in the bronze plans. I start them in the Silver and go up or down as they see fit & ask more questions. Sticker-shock can go one of two ways: cost of the premium or amount of the deductible. Most of my clients chose higher premiums.

I would have a conversation with the customer before looking into anything, taking the time to explain cost vs price, especially for those who actually may use the coverage. There were many cases where they want to look at the plans with me along side the FFM while on the phone. Most shoppers around here were really looking for the cheapest they could find, period.

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[Tkruger]

Anyway, NOT a fan of them, don't work for them, don't write them don't refer business to them either, most of all, NOT a FL Blue Agent. Refuse to sell out to a company who only allows you to write their products. I do what's best for each customer, not sell them on one carrier.

OK so you gained some points in my book with that response. We however do refer folks when it's in their best interest to Blue...

If you really dig into their plans allot of them lowest cost or not are crap. A copay of $ 125 to see a primary care doctor IMO is junk when you can cash pay for $ 75 or less in many cases.

Bringing me back to my primary point..they have by far cornered the markets in this portion of the state.

Back to Ambetter, it was available in the zip I used and it produced the same results I noted.

 

[FLM2]

MythBusters bust myths. You confuse the hell out of facts. Going back to what you said above, removing the junk, you reinforced EXACTLY what I said. The link you provided shows 6/10 plans are FL Blue, and they are the CHEAPEST plans. You didn't count those because you don't like the networks lol. Looking at bronze only plans, 7/10 are FL Blue.

I don't confuse ANY facts and have been doing this for 10 years with hundred of long term, satisfied clients.

In Tampa, Blue offers crappy networks (My Blue and Blue Select) and there isn't that much difference between those rates and other companies (Ambetter, Coventry, Humana) with similar crappy networks. Once UHC and Assurant left people really had very little choice, it only gets worse next year.

My clients don't necessarily want the least expensive plan, it's mostly finding as many of their doctors in network as possible. UHC was a good alternative for 2016 (Assurant was by far the best in 2014 and 2015) until the decided to pull out. Most of my Tampa clients, though, are still on UHC Compass.

My previous post said next year will be a complete mess in Florida, I guess you missed that part of it. There is no future in IFP in Florida for an independent agent, if you are counting on that you will soon be broke.

 

[Brian F 11]

OK so you gained some points in my book with that response. We however do refer folks when it's in their best interest to Blue... If you really dig into their plans allot of them lowest cost or not are crap. A copay of $ 125 to see a primary care doctor IMO is junk when you can cash pay for $ 75 or less in many cases. Bringing me back to my primary point..they have by far cornered the markets in this portion of the state. Back to Ambetter, it was available in the zip I used and it produced the same results I noted.

Everyone I talked to that had experience with Fl Blue hates them. They are notorious for being difficult to deal with, that was before the latest mess.

Their plans were hot garbage, especially on the lower end. Humana Silver Plans are MUCH richer in benefits, pre deductible they were the best. Comparing apples to apples, they had a lower cost, unfortunately, not the lowest premiums, and that's what most people were after. They couldn't get over spending $35 more per month on something that would save them thousands later.

Truth be told, most of the ACA on-market plans use horrible networks. UHC by far had the best network out there. Their plans were just so expensive here. There are more active and competitive in the Orlando area, but even then, far away from being the lower cost plans.

There were some areas where UHC Plans dominate, like in South FL. We were limited on capital and could not buy a ton of leads, limiting us to the local area for the most part. I was put through the BCBS ringer, made that point on my original post. Referrals we had something in place with the local FL Blue Agency but they were so busy that they wouldn't call our referrals back. So we stopped sending them.

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I don't confuse ANY facts and have been doing this for 10 years with hundred of long term, satisfied clients. In Tampa, Blue offers crappy networks (My Blue and Blue Select) and there isn't that much difference between those rates and other companies (Ambetter, Coventry, Humana) with similar crappy networks. Once UHC and Assurant left people really had very little choice, it only gets worse next year. My clients don't necessarily want the least expensive plan, it's mostly finding as many of their doctors in network as possible. UHC was a good alternative for 2016 (Assurant was by far the best in 2014 and 2015) until the decided to pull out. Most of my Tampa clients, though, are still on UHC Compass. My previous post said next year will be a complete mess in Florida, I guess you missed that part of it. There is no future in IFP in Florida for an independent agent, if you are counting on that you will soon be broke.

They dominated. It's not even close. How many clients did you have call you and say, never mind the price, I want the best Network! Lol

Next year is dismal??? Lol it's dismal right now, was dismal when the carriers I banked on for OEP wiped out commissions during AEP. I never thought that would even be a possibility, mistake on my part. Learned that lesson. We focused primarily on ACA so needless to say we got burnt.

After OEP ended, have not and will not touch Obamacare. We focus on all types of Medicare Health Plans, Life and FE, ancillary. Learning about annuities and will get into that as well.

As for next year, Molina is moving into our ACA Market along with a few other carriers, so it will be a very different landscape with micro provider networks, companies you never heard of. Molina offers Medicaid, only sold direct from the carrier. Possibility that they will push ACA using that existing wonderful Medicaid Network?

If the carriers bring back and have some kind of written guaranteed commissions, 6% min, (as if it wasn't in writing before), maybe I will think about offering it incase someone asks for it but I won't chase it.

I am curious to see how much of the marketshare FL Blue owns in Central FL for 2016. Waiting on that data. In 2014 they almost captured 1/3 of all enrollments, 16' I bet the own more than 1/2, shoveling hundreds of thousands of members onto their tiny HMO Networks.

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[Tkruger]

1/2 is a pipe dream.

Aetna
Coventry
Cigna
Humana
United
Ambetter

Just to name a few...Step away from the Kool-Aide.

 

[Brian F 11]

1/2 is a pipe dream. Aetna Coventry Cigna Humana United Ambetter Just to name a few...Step away from the Kool-Aide.

1/2 in this area

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[FLM2]

Both of you come off as rookies in this business.

Florida Blue, like them or not (I don't) have been the #1 carrier for IFP in Florida for a long time and had at least 33% marketshare before ACA.

The have the best HMO product (Blue Care) in many parts of Florida (open access), with the exception of Tampa, South Florida, and Jacksonville, where they introduced 'My Blue' last year that even their best agents hate.

Humana offered the only PPO alternative this year and it is gone for next year so anyone who wants a decent network will have to go with Florida Blue (the only exception is the Aetna local HMO in Sarasota/Manatee, which is very strong in a limited geographic area).

All of this is a waste of bandwidth because outside of some Blue agents no one is going to make a living in Florida in IFP next year and in future years, companies like Molina may have a decent product but with their limited networks will never attract anyone who makes a decent living.

Consumers that actually stay on the books (my persistency has always been >90% and is close to 97% so far this year) aren't worried about a few bucks one way or the other, companies like Ambetter barely register on their radar, they want a plan with good benefits.

I could continue to point things out but have no interest in extending this conversation.

 

[sman]

MythBusters bust myths. You confuse the hell out of facts. Going back to what you said above, removing the junk, you reinforced EXACTLY what I said. The link you provided shows 6/10 plans are FL Blue, and they are the CHEAPEST plans. You didn't count those because you don't like the networks lol. Looking at bronze only plans, 7/10 are FL Blue. Ambetter does not write business in the zip code that you used, if they did, all but 1 Humana would be bumped to the 2nd page. What is your idea of neck and neck????? You think people who already get sticker shock on page 1 dare venture move on to page 2? For those who qualified for CSR, FL Blue and Ambetter offered multiple $0 premium silver plans in every case I looked at. Humana or UHC the customer would have to pay additional premiums. To be fair to you I ran a few quotes in other counties using FFM, finder.healthcare.gov in Orange County Family of 4, still no Ambetter plans in the area, the lowest cost bronze plan belongs to Avmed followed by FL Blue, $40 less than the lowest cost Humana Plan. Also note that once again, most of the plans available are FL Blue. We know they are lower for family coverage, let's go back to male single non smoker age 35. Same county, bronze plans Blue offers majority of the plans. Silver plans (just for fun). Maybe it will make a difference if you can see it, top 10 plans arranged by premium low to high 1. - Blue Silver HMO 2. - Blue Silver EPO 3. - Blue Silver HMO 4. - Avmed HMO 5. - Blue Silver EPO 6. - Avmed HMO 7. - Blue Silver HMO 8. - Humana HMO 9. - Blue Silver EPO 10. - Avmed HMO Where is the competition? There is 1 Humana Plan in there, 8th from the top. No UHC listed in the first dozen plans or so. Moving onto Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, and Hillsborough County. In both Hillsborough and Pasco Counties, Top dozen or so plans belong to Florida Blue or Ambetter, flip flopping by zip code. No UHC, No Humana. Polk County is pretty much owned by FL Blue. FACT: The ONLY county I see that shows Humana as the lowest cost HMO Bronze Plan is Pinellas County. The rest of the plans are Blue and Ambetter. You must have really checked around to find that one instance. Looking at Pinellas County Silver Plans, back to the norm, the first 3 lowest cost plans are Blue and Ambetter. The remainder of the page shows 2 Humana HMO Plans mixed in with the dozen FL Blue and Ambetter Plans. Is that enough? Or do we need to look up every demographic in every zip code for you? Fact is, those two companies found an easy way to saturate the FFM with many cheap plans, adding 1 or 2 benefits here and there. Anyone using the FFM in Central Florida is going to see a page LOADED up with FL Blue Plans showing among the lowest cost plans, if not the lowest. Toss Avmed or Ambetter into the mix for most of the counties out there and only 1/10 (or more) of the plans are Humana or UHC. They are going to pay $20-$50 more per person or $50-$200 more per family? Good Luck. It's no secret Humana's HMOx Network is just as bad as the rest of the Obamacare Plans. We have experienced the Humana Network issues in the bay area as well. Cheapest Plans, EPO Network, No Referrals needed for most services, Name Recognition, available just about everywhere........sounds like FL Blue domination, not competition. Sent from my iPhone using InsForums ---------- Also, something to note, using Health Sherpa, when someone qualifies for the APTC resulting in $0 premium, it will bump Humana to the top of the list for some reason. Most people I spoke with wanted us to look along with them on the FFM, which does not do that. Many cases especially in this market, Humana wouldn't show until you got halfway to the 2nd page. Again, for the on market plans they were just not competitive in most cases. Sent from my iPhone using InsForums

Damn!!! You typed all of that on your iPhone?