Why Do Carriers Want to Deal Direct?

[ins.dave]

Last time I had this discussion with a carrier they admitted they only make offers on about 30% of those who apply direct, about half are not taken and the balance fall off the books within 6 months.
.

Had two calls today that tie into this "direct" deal.
Hey Dave, we spoke a month or so ago ...
Turns out she applied direct with UHC but was turned down for substance abuse. A lot of the time these direct people have something to hide or they think they know it all and of course that type has to learn things the hard way.
I'm not surprised at those numbers. Same thing with Ehealth biz. F** at Humana told me long ago that they don't like the Ehealth biz ... no doubt for the same reasons.
This one kills.
Conversation starts out with her irritable and saying that she wants BC because that's what she had as a group plan with her so to be former employer. Turns out she had phoned Humana directly and the rep. tried to convince her that she did not need a plan with r/x coverage and that the plan for 400 per mo. without was the same type he and his wife had ...
Punkass didn't realize that this lady's son had lost a kidney and was using 3500 per mo. in r/x ... I proceeded to go over a couple of plans with her. one at 650 per mo. and the other at 930. Don't believe
I'd go too far in saying
a foundation for good relations
is being laid.

 

[Ann H]

Don't believe I'd go too far in saying a foundation for good relations is being laid.

Sometimes a client will wise up on the rebound, and they become good clients. In this case, they were probably not very far from being a good solid client in the first place, but for some reason they just chose to circumvent using an agent the first time, only to learn the value that the agent adds.

A lot of the time these direct people have something to hide or they think they know it all...

That's very intuitive. I think you're right. Many times they have something to hide and they bypass the "fact finding" that an agent will do before recommending a product for sale.

 

[somarco]

this lady's son had lost a kidney and was using 3500 per mo. in r/x ... I proceeded to go over a couple of plans with her. one at 650 per mo. and the other at 930.

Was son insurable?

I tried to get a guy with one kidney insured a few months ago. Good health otherwise. Cholesterol med (low dose, single med) to stabilize levels.

Denied, denied, denied . . .

He has a Time policy that is old and very expensive. He is stuck with it until he turns 65.

 

[stuy119]

I think that overall, brokers (and the groups out there to market for us) have done a poor job of voicing the need for a broker. Your average Joe is going to think he'll pay more for using a broker instead of going direct, and that's his main reason for avoiding us - when he's getting much less information when he goes direct.

And now, when people are going to have more knowledge of MLR (or hear about it more) than they are broker involvement, well, let's just say that there hasn't been much support for us out there recently. We need a "Got broker?" campaign, or some such nonsense.

 

[somarco]

The public in general doesn't give a damn about insurance carriers or brokers. They think the carriers spend too much on themselves and not enough on their policyholders.

They think agents (with some justification) are sleazy sales people out to make a quick buck and offer little value.

Face it, there are a lot of really bad agents out there. Spending 20 years on the wholesale side of this business showed me that maybe 10% of agents are real pro's. The rest are just looking for their next job.