How Senate Bill 2068 Will Help Agents and Consumers

Included in the health care reform bill passed in 2009 is something called MLR or Minimum Loss Ratio. This portion of the law mandates that at least 80% of premium for small group and 85% for large group must go towards claims leaving the rest for administrative costs. As the bill is currently written, agent commission is considered an administrative cost.

This poses a problem to the insurance industry. To meet MLR, commissions have been cut, leaving the future of the health insurance agent in question. Agents play a very critical role in helping consumers find the best priced quality coverage that fits the consumer’s individual need. Because there are many choices when looking at insurance, it is hard for the consumer to pick a plan that suits them best. Agents are able to listen to the clients, understand their situation, tolerance for risk, expected claims, and find the policy that would best cover the client. When they evaluate the situation, they help the client save money by understanding their out-of-pocket costs and premiums. Agents also help clients at claim time, assisting in communications with the insurance carrier. If the role of the insurance agent is phased out, the client would have no one on their side helping them find the best product for their needs.

Senate Bill 2068 would remove agent commission from administrative cost, ensuring that the role of the insurance agent stays intact. This would be a great benefit to consumers as it will ensure they have access to professional and knowledgeable guidance from a health insurance agent.

MIBS supports Senate Bill 2068. We believe the agent plays a critical role in the insurance and health industries and want that to continue into the future.

To find out more about the bill or contact your Senators you can visit the NAIFA website.

What’s so great about MIBS P&C?

Our main goal at MIBS is the make you, the agent, as successful as possible.  If you are a strong thriving agency, so are we.  To increase this success, about five years ago, we opened a new MIBS division, our Property & Casualty brokerage.  We have successfully ran a health general agency since 1989 and love how we are able to help our agents in all stages of the sale.  We went to the Property & Casualty carriers with our idea: Open up the P&C market to MIBS brokers.  We would pool all of our agents production together to meet individual carrier goals.  By selling more than one line of business to their clients, our agent would increase their relationship and retention, leading to longer lasting commissions.  The carriers liked the idea too!  Five years later, we are the only P&C general agency in the country and the fastest growing agency for Travelers and Hartford.

What does this mean for you?  Traditionally, to get a contract with an agency, you would have to present a business plan with guaranteed production requirements to the carrier.  Once approved, you would be given a contract.  You then would have the responsibility of meeting those production goals each year.  This would enable a growing agency to put their business with one or two carriers to satisfy that requirement.  This often left minimal options for the client.  It was hard to find an agency that represented all carriers.

Writing with MIBS offers…..

• Access to A Rated carriers
• The ability to place one piece of business with us, and then never write again (although we would like you to write more, there’s no requirement!).
• 100% ownership of your client.  We don’t do anything with your clients info but help you write the case.
• The freedom to place business wherever you would like.  If you are a captive agent and just want a carrier to take a client your captive carrier won’t write, we will help you!
• A competitive edge, you always have an array of A Rated carriers to place your business with.

We have worked hard to create a unique opportunity for you to be successful.  We would love to answer any questions you have and help you build a strong, successful agency!

For more info, you can visit our website, or call us at 847-427-8000.

Breaking Bad: The Insurance Solution

I recently started watching the TV series Breaking Bad.  The main character of the series, Walt White, is a high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with lung cancer.  He is on an HMO and the specialist they need to see is of course not in the network.  He has one teenage son and a daughter on the way.  This leaves him with a ton of expenses, not limited to medical bills.  With no life insurance and sub-par medical coverage, his bills are lining up.

To solve this problem, he starts cooking meth with a local drug dealer to make money.  While this makes for a great television show, the premise bothers me.  Often times I am yelling at the TV, noting that a PPO plan and some term life could have solved this problem!  Given that Walt works for a school district, the PPO option was most likely available.  In order to save a few bucks a month, he chose the HMO, leaving him in his current situation.  A term life policy for around $800,000 runs him just over $100/month at his current age.

In what many would just see as another scene in the show, Walt does a quick equation to see how much money his family would need if and when he dies.  He is actually calculating how much life insurance he should have purchased.  You can see it below at 4:30 in the video.

Obviously this is an extreme example of what happens when someone doesn’t insure themselves and their families properly, but it’s a very vivid example that really drives the point home.

Now I know only I can take a TV Show and turn it into an insurance example, but this is how we need to assess our client’s situation when determining their insurance needs.  What is best for them?  Would your client and their families be covered if the worst would happen?  Unfortunately, too many people fall into the same situation as Walt.  Fortunately, cooking meth doesn’t seem to be the solution, but avoiding this situation all together could really make a huge difference at a very low point in your client’s lives.

Give Back With Marketing

I am always looking for new and creative marketing ideas, which is why this new Progressive Commercial caught my eye.  In a change from the typical “Flo” commercials, which personally aren’t my favorite, this commercial did something special.

There are a few things that I really like about this kind of marketing strategy.

1)  It Invokes a Positive Emotional Response.   As a consumer, you can usually tell when you are being marketed and it can feel obtrusive.  As agents, we all struggle to balance our marketing campaigns to find that right balance of good communication versus bothering your client.  Marketing usually entails some trial and error, and during that time, we can often become a pest to our client.  That obviously creates a negative feeling or emotion.  With this type of marketing, it’s all positive emotions, and that’s the best kind of association to create!

2) People will talk about you, in a good way!  Because this is a creative and fun idea, people will tell their friends and family.  The reach of this type of marketing idea is really impressive and your prospective clients also turn into part of your marketing strategy without even knowing it!

3) It’s fun!  This is not some routine direct mail campaign or cold calling program.  This program will make you smile and hopefully your prospective clients smile as well!  Take a hint from the guy in the video and have fun with this.  People like to be around other happy and funny people.  Embrace this idea and enjoy marketing!

4) It’s unique!  You don’t hear about this often.  Actually, outside of this commercial, I’ve heard of someone doing this one other time with coffee at Home Depot instead of gas.  It will make you stand out from your competitors, which is our goal.

What’s really great is you can control your budget.  Depending on your market, gas most likely won’t give you the best return on investment.  Change this idea and make it work for you.  Coffee at Starbucks, breakfast at McDonald’s, lunch at Chipotle, etc.  If you are targeting families, hand out food or drinks to the moms and dads waiting to pick their kids up for school.  Figure out your target market, where they are, what they would want and go for it.

It’s a good idea to make a postcard or flyer to hand out with your gift.  Have links to your website, Facebook Fan Page, or Blog so they can research you. I would suggest giving each person more than one, so when they tell their friends and family about you, they have an extra postcard to hand on.  They become a part of your marketing technique and a prospective customer.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

This idea is central to Progressive’s new advertising campaign, you can check out some of their other ideas here….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1dAcqy997A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0cmzedNewM

Good luck and have fun!

The 1 Most Important Thing

There are many things that can fill your day.  Between work, errands, getting ready for a Holiday, it seems like we can be on a never ending treadmill of life.  Things keep coming a million miles an hour and we start to question, “What am I doing this all for?”.

I just got home from the Camodeca Christmas and it’s 1:45 in the morning.  After a day with my family, what seems most important is in clear view to me.  It’s family.  That family doesn’t have to be by blood, but a family type unit.  It’s a place I know everyone has my back, and I have theirs.  We love each other unconditionally.  We fight sometimes and some of them can annoy me (no names now), but at the end of the day, we know we are there for each other.

Every year we take a family picture.  This is from 2009, the last Christmas before my Grandma passed on.  It was very special to us all!

With the pace of life getting faster everyday, it’s important to have your priorities straight.  Business is very important, but a life that is all work is not fun and most likely will not be successful.  I hope you are able to take time everyday and during this holiday season to spend time and love your family or friends.

2 Things You Need!

We are getting down to the end of our “12 Days of Christmas” blog series.  As the year winds down it’s time to think about your business and what you need to succeed in 2012.  Be sure you add the following two things to your business “to-do” list.

1.  An accurate and up to date website:  I know most agents have some sort of website launched, and that is a great start!  What you need to ask is, “Does this website reflect my brand and agency?  Is it up to date with correct information?  Would someone know all of my product offerings by visiting my site?”  If you have incorrect or outdated info, you could actually be doing more harm than good to your customer.  A recent personal experience showed me this very clearly.  I needed a present for my sister’s dog.  (Yes, I buy presents for the dogs, they actually get the more presents than the humans in our family.)  I found a great jacket to keep him warm for his winter walks at a local dog boutique and asked my Dad to run over to the store to pick it up for me.  I looked online, got the hours of the store, and my Dad was there at 10:00 am when the store was supposed to open.  Problem was, the store had “Holiday Hours” posted on the door; they opened at 10:30.  My Dad patiently waited in the car for 30 minutes until the store opened.  He said he saw at least six customers come to the store, find it closed, only to get in their cars and leave.  If the store would have posted the correct hours on the door, my Dad and those other customers could have simply adjusted their day to the store hours and avoided the frustration.  Now, I don’t trust the information on the website and remember how they cause my Dad to have to wait.   Now hours on their website might not seem like a big deal from the surface, and I know no one is perfect and mistakes are made (as I’m sure our website has an error even though I do my best to keep it up to date).  The point is to try your best to make the information on your site be accurate and up to date so you are able to provide the best service clients

2.  A social media presence:  I know I have probably heard this from me before, but social media is such a great, inexpensive form of marketing that I can’t help but shout about it from the rooftops (or at least my blog).  Facebook & LinkedIn offer so many ways for you to connect with your customers in a different way than traditional marketing allows.  They help you build the relationship, which is the most important part of the sales process.  If you haven’t launched your business Facebook Fan page yet, take a look at ours to get some ideas.     It doesn’t have to be fancy or high-tech, just being there, show your agency’s personality, help your clients with some product information and answer their questions.  This will go a long way for your brand and agency’s image.   For your agency’s Facebook presence, I would suggest creating a Fan Page as opposed to using your personal Facebook profile for a few reasons.  First, Fan Pages have unlimited amount of fans, personal pages are limited to 5,000 friends.  I know this amount of fans might seem like a stretch, but you would hate to put a ceiling on your marketing potential right off the bat.  Second, I think it is good to keep your personal and professional online profiles segmented.  The two pages should have totally different goals.  You personal page is just that, personal, and should be shared with your friends and family.  You business Fan Page should have a marketing strategy behind it, with certain goals you are wanting to achieve.  It can get messy when you combine the two pages into one.  

If you have any questions or need advice on your website or agency’s social media presence for 2012, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  I love helping agents build their business with marketing, it’s one of my crazy passions in life.  Tomorrow is our last blog for the season.  I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Holiday with your family and are planning for a great 2012!

3 Things about United Health Care

1.  Largest single health carrier in the country:  United Health Care insures more than 70 million Americans.  Their network includes over 667,230 doctors and 5,174 hospitals.  They have great product offerings and different plan designs.

2.  UHC offers different networks for your clients different needs.  Their largest network is the Choice Plus network, their traditional PPO network.  The other network offered is the Core network, which is a smaller network of doctors and often competes with other carrier’s HMO product.  If you have questions about the Core network, please contact your marketing rep at 847-427-8000 and they would be happy to give you more details!

3.  UHC offers great bundling discounts!  When you sell ancillary products such as dental, vision, life, or short or long term disability, UHC will discount a certain dollar amount of the medical rates.  To see a list of the combinations and dollar discounts, please click here.