Will Tom Price Create Opportunities for the Agents?

[nylife11023]

You have absolutely no concept of this business.

Obviously you did not take my advice and "lose the 'tude'." I'm glad that you are successful, although with the aggressive and condescending personality traints that you have exhibited here, I don't know why you are. Perhaps you are the master of the old-school, 'hard sell' stereotype insurance agent? I think you would do better if you could understand that you can disagree with someone without them becoming your enemy.

First of all, IFP is a small part of the total health insurance market, both Small Group and Medicare are both stable and thriving.

In many areas of the country, comp for group has fallen as well as for Medicare Supplements. Maybe in your area they have gone up.

CMS regulates Medicare Advantage compensation (and has been modestly increasing in recent years) and the Medicare Supplement market is a money making niche for companies like United Healthcare and others, compensation isn't going away for these.

Has compensation rates gone up in the past few years? I don't know if any of the following came to pass, but if so, I don't see how you are making more comp now than two years ago.

CMS rule change will

The government tried to circumvent the broker distribution channel with small group through SHOP and it has failed miserably.

From the research I did, it seems to me that the problem with SHOP had something to do with agent participation (lack of it) but there were also a host of other issues including adverse selection as well as competition from carriers. There seems to be a lot of blame going around on this. You would know better than I would, obviously.

The other part that you don't understand is that many of us had our best income generating years in the 2014-2015 time frame when the new system took over, it's far more likely that this will happen once again under whatever new system is introduced rather than compensation going away completely (and that's from carrier reps in the know, not speculation).

So you are saying that health agent comp will increase and you are basing this on carrier reps? I don't think you quite understand the job and mission of the carrier reps but that's a story for another time.

I don't need to justify the way I run my business to you (or anyone else) but I work less than 1,000 hours a year at this point in my career and generate more than enough income to live a comfortable life along with having a loyal and stable client base.

Well that indeed makes you 'super-agent' and I'm more than happy for you. Obviously you have a skill-set better developed than that of those agents (who have to) work full-time to "live a comfortable life." I wish I could work part-time but I have a very expensive wife!

All you have is what is obviously a dislike for insurance agents (all of your forum posts clearly point to that),

If that is what you believe than that is what you believe. But there is a total dichotomy between what you believe and what is fact. Perhaps in your case we can call what you believe an 'alternative fact.'

maybe it's time to focus more on your current career and try to be successful at that.

This reminds me of a famous quote attributed to the writer Dorothy Parker. She wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper who reviewed one of her books... badly. It said, "I'm sitting in the smallest, most cozy room of my house. I have your review in front of me. It shall soon be behind. me."

 

[FLM2]

Obviously you did not take my advice and "lose the 'tude'." I'm glad that you are successful, although with the aggressive and condescending personality traints that you have exhibited here, I don't know why you are. Perhaps you are the master of the old-school, 'hard sell' stereotype insurance agent? I think you would do better if you could understand that you can disagree with someone without them becoming your enemy.



In many areas of the country, comp for group has fallen as well as for Medicare Supplements. Maybe in your area they have gone up.

I repeat, you just have no clue.

My attitude towards you in particular is based on other posts in this forum that questioned the professionalism of agents because they were more interested in compensation that doing the right thing for the client.

MAPD and PDP commissions have increased in the past two years, not decreased. Maybe if you actually did this for a living you would know.

Maximum Broker Commissions for Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Part D (PDP) for 2017 – RitterIM

CMS Announces Maximum Commissions for Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Part D (PDP) for 2016 – RitterIM

All of the major Medicare companies (UHC, Humana, Aetna, Anthem and the Blues) all pay the maximum.


Group compensation has been stable for the past several year and carriers provide lots of incentives for agents and brokers to write this business. I did 3 new small groups for January effective dates and received $1K bonuses for each of them from Humana on a total of 13 enrolled employees in addition to about $400 of annual compensation per employee that will stay on the books for a very long time-it was the right thing for my clients and works for me.

Medicare supplement commissions have also been really stable-again, maybe if you did this for a living you would know this.

I'm not a 'super agent', there are plenty of others on this forum who are far more successful than me because they work harder at it, but your continued attempts to discredit health agents continues to strike me as someone who failed at this business and can't understand why others succeed.

For the other agents on here who might not understand where this troll is coming from, please read this and Ann H's response in red:
Originally Posted by nylife11023 View Post

I'm kind of curious. Assuming that the public sector could do all of the above, would you be in favor of a single-payor plan?

And a second question... if the private sector did all of the above but did not pay agent commissions on any plan would you still be in favor of a private sector, for-profit solution over a public one?

And a third question... do you believe that a Wellpoint/Anthem mega-company is more responsive to their clients than Medicare is? (If so you've never been on hold for hours trying to get one of their people to solve a billing issue... and not have it solved... like my father has had to do with his plan... but my grandfather has never had to call Medicare for anything.)

Finally a fourth question: I wonder if comp for group and IFP went to zero but if the state or federal governments offered a single-payer solution with say a 15% FYC with a 10% /yr trail, if maybe some of you here would dance to a different tune?

As an outsider to this sector of the financial services industry it seems to me that agents favor the private sector because they hope to see it restored to the days of 15%-20% FYC.

No statement here, just questions... and not trying to stir up a beehive or flame-war. These are just issue that I've discussed with friends who work in your sector and am wondering if single-pay is just about the money, which I suspect has a lot to do with it, although no doubt many just 'hate' government-anything... some agents I speak with would happily privatize Medicare if they could.

(I have no dog in this hunt... I don't sell or buy health insurance... my company provides 100% no-cost-to-me, low/no deduct coverage in what what you would call a "Cadillac-plan" ... just curious about these issues you folks debate here day in and day out.)

Your post was very rude, and you claimed you were "not trying to stir up a beehive or flame war". That's exactly what you were doing, so man up and admit it. All of your paragraphs asked the same question, which is "would we be for government controlled insurance (like Medicare) if it paid as much or more than we get now, or do we have a different reason for not liking the government taking over a segment where private enterprise can do it". I'm sure every agent laughed when they read that, because clearly you don't know that selling Medicare supplements is a good business. Yes, you can make fine money by selling supplements to a govt program like Medicare or MAPD. Most IFP agents would really love to increase the size of their Medicare Supp book of business! It's a good business. So, clearly compensation is not the reason we don't like govt takeovers of a private sector business. Maybe we don't like govt takeovers or heavy handed govt control instead of free enterprise. Maybe we don't like Obamacare causing carriers to bleed red, withdraw, and merge, nor do we like hospitals merging, and doctors going out of business. And more.

So, how about you? If your job didn't pay you would you work there? If your cushy job, where you have Cadillac insurance with no premium and low deductibles was taken away, would you work there? If you quoted for a client, spent an hour advising and helping them, yet they never bought from you (so you didn't get paid) would you work there? If you felt responsible to help clients pro-bono (no pay, no benefits) would you work there. If your job was clearly collapsing, and under govt takeover that was creating havoc, would you work there? Because lots of us do that, dude, while you work a cushy job, come to a forum where you "have no dog in this fight" and make rude, provoking comments.

 

[Key2Success]

I guess turbo tax put accountants out of business. Same for nolo.com for lawyers? And Schwab for financial advisors. But seems people still pay them fees for the professional advice in complicated areas of life. Same goes for health insurance which has a direct effect on net worth and quality of health care. Two cornerstones of life. There will always be do it yourself folks, and those who prefer to pay a professional instead. (Excluding "salespeople" from my analogy). Some agents get it, others don't and never will.

Turbo Tax, Nolo and Schwab has put thousands out of business.....obviously, not all mind you but many thousands. You said it yourself thousands of agents will never get it and they will fall by the wayside. Most won't see this as an opportunity.

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Because lots of us do that, dude, while you work a cushy job, come to a forum where you "have no dog in this fight" and make rude, provoking comments.[/COLOR][/B]

Pot meet kettle....kettle meet pot! Oh the hypocrisy!

 

[AllenChicago]

Hello all,

I was wondering if you guys are seeing a new 'golden age' for the agents are coming soon.

Will short term plans, indemnities, HSA plans bring increasing commissions?

Will medicare supplements become more lucrative to sell?

Any insight?

Monti

HHS Secretary Price seems to be extremely focused on the Medical Provider aspect of the equation...as well as Long Term Care. His Father and Grandfather were both physicians. This is a pretty interesting article.

Link: http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2017/0...s-pick-tom-pri?page_all=1&slreturn=1486952262

 

[kgmom219]

There is always going to be a place for experts.

CPAs
Financial Planners
Insurance Agents
Travel Agents
Wedding Planners

I deal with people everyday, making six figures. These are doctors, engineers, etc.

They are also smart enough to know you can't be an expert at everything and picking their retirement health insurance is not an area where you "guess".

 

[nylife11023]

I repeat, you just have no clue.

My attitude towards you in particular is based on other posts in this forum

You win.

You prevail.

I know not to argue against a closed mind coupled with a bad 'tude.'

You can have the last word.

Mine is that I sincerely hope you find the acceptance from your peers as well as the self-esteem that you seem to be so desperately seeking.

-30-

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings." - Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene2.

 

[scagnt83]

There is always going to be a place for experts.

CPAs
Financial Planners
Insurance Agents
Travel Agents
Wedding Planners

I deal with people everyday, making six figures. These are doctors, engineers, etc.

They are also smart enough to know you can't be an expert at everything and picking their retirement health insurance is not an area where you "guess".

As usual, excellent post.

I did my own taxes for years, even as a business. Eventually I wised up and paid someone to do it. I still could, it just wasnt a wise use of my time.... AND I knew that I did not know what I did not know. (and my tax attorney found things that me and turbo tax missed)

Can do it... Want to do it... Should do it... are all very different things when it comes to major financial decisions.

 

[tonyisme]

Sometimes we agents get involved in the claim side. Because the client gets frustrated and they would like a human to talk to like an intermediary. And when we help someone they often refer their friends to us. I'm working on a Case right now where some client used the wrong insurance card at a doctor's office... the client did not know she used the wrong insurance card... a website marketer will never ever deal with this.
We don't sell P&C and I do have a P&C agent and I do value him especially at claims time.
I don't call him much but I expect agent performance when I do have a claim.

 

[somarco]

Agents are valued more after the fact. Not so much at time of sale.

Lawyers, doctors and accountants are the same way. They are called when there is a problem. "Can you fix this?" is the norm.

No one here is diminishing the need for an agent. No one is denying the value.

But we are all business men and ladies. At least we should be.

If you can't figure out how to make a living doing what you are doing now you need to move on to something else. Some of us here have reinvented ourselves many times. It's not easy but is often required unless you are independently wealthy.

Every time a new marketing approach comes along the existing channels are disrupted. But a good marketer will figure out how to adapt and make it work.

If you as the agent are not creating VALUE you will be replaced. Either by another agent or a mass marketer with a slick sales pitch.

 

[Ann H]

NYLife11023, you can continue to write posts that devalue agents. But you are talking to agents who make 6 figures, made 6 figures before ACA, made more during the heyday of ACA (due to heavy work hours, by the way), and still make 6 figures when commissions have gone down! And I'm not talking about just $100,000 or barely above that. I'm talking about large incomes. I made more money during this last OEP than the one before that, even as IFP commission went down. Yes, IFP commissions went down. But so did IFP quality, IFP networks, IFP benefits, and IFP choices. So, I helped my clients (and many call-ins) get onto group insurance. Group insurance pays as much commission as it did 10 years ago, and the bonuses are also good. Networks are better than IFP, choices are better, benefits are higher, prices are lower. I won. Again. The client won because they had me there showing them the way.

You are missing the big picture. You are talking to serious agents, with serious successful skill sets. We are adept at finding answers in the midst of problems.

The lazy (and unsuccessful) agent doesn't keep sharp on all issues, like you find with agents who are on this forum, watching every detail and caring about it. It's not because we are losers. It's because we are winners.

Yes, we can take a changing market and profit from it. We can take a changing market and show our clients how to pick the best choices out of it. We keep strong streams of income while we weather weaker ones (like IFP). We have other streams of income (like ancillary, disability, annuities, ancillary) etc. Yes, ancillary pays 20% - 30% commission, and is sometimes needed by the client. Sometimes the client needs life insurance, disability insurance, etc., which can pay 40% to 80% first year commission. We are not losers and we don't watch our clients flounder without solid answers! We keep professional, keep sharp, keep ethical for the client's needs, and are not deterred by difficult situations.

You also missed that technology is our friend. So what if the govt and carriers use technology? So do we. It was hilarious when the government spent $834 million on healthcare.gov, so that people could "shop on one site and see plans side by side". We had been doing that for about a decade!!!!!! Almost all agents had quoting engines on their websites, showing plans side-by-side, from which you could pick a plan and purchase it. The quoting engines were as good as or better than healthcare.gov's. It cost about $79 a month for a very professional quoting engine to be on your website. To make it even funnier, we used private-enterprise vendors (like Health Sherpa or ACAExpress) which are websites that made it easier to use healthcare.gov's website!! It cut our processing time immensely, so we helped more people, and made more money. And... speaking of missing the big picture about technology, where do all those lead vendors (that you said make up much of our forum) get their money? From website lookie-lous.

Technology doesn't scare us. We are smart, and we use it rather than run from it. Agents on this board are masters at healthcare.gov, and fixed problems that do-it-yourselfers floundered with. By the way, the administration claims 20 million gained insurance (without counting how many lost their insurance). Of that, only 10 million were on-exchange, of which many used an agent. The other 10 million were medicaid (no agents), and the administration didn't even mention another 10 million off-exchange (mostly with agents). Yet that 30 million in the IFP segment is a tiny slice of the 300 million in our population. Other than those in government plans, the rest of them have group health insurance, with an agent.

People have been claiming for years that the next wave would wipe out agents. Hasn't happened yet. Sure, the newbies & less successful ones can't make it, and they literally failed. Some agents left when ACA was enacted, not because they are failures, but because they made a sound decision to succeed at something else. Yes, some people will think it's terrible that a strong insurance agent makes from $200,000 to $800,000 a year, but I'll tell you that we would make that much money in real estate, sales, financial planning, stock broker, etc. If we help people sincerely, like other posters have pointed out, solve problems, simplify complex issues, and make money at it, who has a right to bash? Most people should get off their tails and do the same.

You are absolutely right that there will be no commission on losing segments like ACA IFP became. But again, you're missing the big picture. It is a losing segment. That means prices are high, benefits are lowered, networks are tiny..... Meanwhile there is a commission on much more profitable choices, such as Group and Med Supp. And..... society usually puts the losing system in the trash barrel and starts over (like they are doing now).

So the agent that is smart, strong, and knows how to change with (or before) the trend wins. Then wins again at the next change.

So bash us with posts about how we will not be needed, but we have heard that for 20 years, and will hear it for the next 20 years. It's hard to put successful people out of business. If one thing goes down, they remain strong, help their client, and make money anyway.

Here is another fact you may not have known. Almost 100% of the agents on this forum who remained in health insurance KNEW AHEAD OF TIME that the ACA would fail. We gave it between 3-5 years. Yet we did it anyway. Most of us had 15 to 40 years of experience in this industry, and knew exactly what we were doing. (I have 36 years experience.) We won. We helped our clients. We worked our tail ends off. Then we went through a tunnel with poor commission, and we will reap harvests on the other end. Some agents chose to get out pre-ACA, yet they are still highly successful at what they went into. Other agents temporarily got out, but may come streaming back in when this system falls (and they are our real competition because, once again, they are smart, experienced, and successful.) We are all unhappy to see a segment fail, unhappy at what happens to our clients, and unhappy about the uncompensated work that we still do, but we are not losers without a roadmap.

So scare off those agents who don't know how this business goes. And tell yourself that coming to this forum to say these things is somehow ethical high ground. But we will go through another mind-boggling, difficult, industry-wide earthquake, and we will succeed at it. Again.

Last point. I used NYLife11023. This "reply" to his post was actually aimed at the original poster's question and any other serious agent who wonders if overall comp will go back up, and if they can survive and thrive in a new system. Yes, there will be good compensation again. Perhaps not a twin of last year's, not a remake of the system from 5 years ago, but another system, another day, another opportunity. Keep your eye on the money. Commission percentage is a shallow way of looking at it. If commission % goes up and the premium goes down, it's the same amount of money. If you are swarmed with good prospects, then marketing costs dive. If your technology allows you to process a larger volume, then net profit goes up. Bonuses, referrals, cross-selling and auto renewals also play into the whole picture.