Years ago when I was a commission driven insurance whore a TPA dropped by my office. “Bill, how many self-funded lives do you have on how many groups?” he asked. “Move 2,000 lives to us and I will not only pay you the same commissions you’re getting now but I will personally deliver a $250,000 check as our way of saying THANK YOU for the business!!”
Such is the world of health insurance brokerage…………………..
Competition for broker loyalty among health insurers is nothing new. Brokers and consultants hold the key to market distribution and the carriers know that.
Insurance brokers are in the business of selling relationships to the highest bidder.
There are two methods to building broker loyalty. First, pay them often and well. Second tie them to a contract wherein the carrier can terminate the broker’s contract at any time with a 30 day notice, with or without cause, ending all residual commissions immediately and forever.
Loyalty must be turbocharged from time to time as an inducement to expand and sell relationships back to the Mother Ship lest the broker becomes too complacent and lazy.
Carriers often pay bonuses on top of commissions, a practice generally unknown to the public. Fee based insurance consultants have been known to accept bonuses from carrier’s they recommend but that is a story for another day.
A former BUCA sales representative once told us he often distributed quarterly loyalty checks in person, some of which were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
We were reminded of all of this today when we checked our email. We literally get hundreds of emails a day, many from insurance companies soliciting our relationships.
Blue Cross and Ambetter are aggressively competing for broker loyalty in preparation for 2025. One pays loyalty bucks faster and better than the other.
Which one do you think your broker will be recommending?
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas Individual & Family Health Insurance Producer Bonus Program
Ambetter New Member Bonus Program
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