“What is an health insurance salesman daddy?”
By Bill Rusteberg
Health insurance companies, the few that are left in the market, are changing their product distribution system. No longer are independent health insurance agents wanted, or needed.
Highmark, for example, recently announced they will no longer pay broker commissions.
Many health insurance brokers are either quitting the business, retiring, or changing their business strategies to include fee-based consulting and lucrative ancillary product sales. Few young brokers are entering the business, leaving the average age of health insurance brokers 50 and above.
Some brokers just don’t get it and continue to bang their heads against the wall. They still think selling is spread sheeting and being the first into the door of underwriters to lock in quotes. They still believe they can earn a six figure income on a 200 life case and only show up once a year to deliver a raise (raise in commissions and rise in rates). And, believe it or not, some employers continue to accept this old fashion way of doing business.
Speaking of the later, we have seen some employers hire both a fee-based consultant and a commission based insurance salesman. This is more common in political subdivisions where politics many times determines outcomes.
Many years from now, while looking through the family album, our descendants will ask “What did granddaddy do for a living?” …………….”Why he was an health insurance salesman back in those days.”……………..”What is an health insurance salesman daddy?”
