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Question: Amid all the changes the health insurance industry is undergoing, are there any trends in 2012 that brokers and agents can embrace to counter shrinking commissions and evaporating accounts? Its been almost two years since the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and employers are still looking for solutions to their health benefits concerns. As a result, I see two major trends defining both the economic environment and the business opportunities that
January 17
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In this election year some of your clients are liable to get caught up in the frenzy. Read in today's BeAdvised as Mercer's George Lane explains why you need to be the voice of reason amid the noise and serve as your clients fact checker.
January 11 -
Do you remember when you started out in sales? What was your first week or month like? I remember like it was yesterday. I wasn't really sure what was going to happen or what I was really suppose to do. When the stock market opened at 9 a.m. I thought the phone was going to start ringing with people wanting to buy stocks. How wrong I was. I remember being really nervous, scared, unsure, and
January 10 -
In the last four years, a new and highly effective service, Telemedicine, has evolved that can reduce medical claim costs by $70 per month per employee. Unlike wellness programs, where employers attempt to change the employees and their dependents lifestyle, the Telemedicine results start immediately and is quite simple. History of broker efforts to reduce claim costs
January 9 -
Okay, so its no secret that the individual mandate included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act isnt going to win any popularity contests nor is most of the law, for that matter. However, Americans arent blowing raspberries on PPACA in its entirety, according to a recent poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. In its monthly tracking poll, the foundation asked people to reveal their most liked and disliked PPACA provisions.
January 4 -
As 2011 comes to a close, its time to plan for 2012. Many of you have already completed your planning. Some of you are in the process of doing your planning and a few of you . . . perhaps more than a few, never have nor will you do any planning.
December 21 -
It seems like almost a daily event Im meeting with a client to discuss their renewal and they say, Why are health care costs rising faster than the rate of inflation (CPI)? Like me, Im sure this question takes you many places because the answer can be complicated but is it really?
December 20 -
During this year’s open enrollment, I’m guessing many employers moved to an online enrollment system. In today’s digital age, online enrollment is not only becoming more popular, but employees have come to expect it. Supporting this fact, I recently saw some data from a Guardian study that revealed the use of online benefits enrollment has more than doubled in five years.
December 19 -
Segmenting the market and focusing on primarily one or two customer groups has historically been a winning strategy in a number of other industry sectors. Market segmentation also can be applied to insurance, benefits, and voluntary benefits. While there are a number of ways to segment the characteristics of a potential client base, many firms successfully choose to focus on a particular employer industry sector. Such a focused approach can result in a much deeper
December 13 -
While employers have increasingly adopted CDHPs as a lower cost option, employees have been slower to embrace them. A recent study reveals one stat likely to increase participation, writes BeAdvised contributor Doug Mantz.
December 12