First off….anyone can throw insurance plans at you and help you enroll. That takes absolutely no skill whatsover. What takes time to learn is how to strategize a company’s insurance budget and make sure they are compliant with all of the ObamaCare (ACA) mandates these days. If you have a Health Insurance broker that specializes in the ACA, focuses only on Health, and is helping you with all of the compliance aspects of the ACA….Keep them. You don’t need to call us if that’s true. There are SO many other businesses that just don’t understand their liability, or don’t realize that they are paying way too much for Employee Benefits. Health Insurance, Employee Benefits, and Group Health Plans are more than just a little dysfunctional. When I got into this industry back in 2003, the industry started being more and more complex. So much so, that older brokers were leaving the business because they couldn’t keep up with all of the changes. Not to mention the commission cut backs, compliance mandates, increased liability…etc. Group Health Insurance not done properly, can ruin a family’s finances, an employers reputation and sends more people into bankruptcy than any other reason in America. Its a big deal.
Employee Benefits for companies is complicated
Like I said earlier…any moron can throw plans at you and help you enroll. The more I know about this industry, the more I did not know when I first started. I can’t even fathom any insurance broker that tries to consult a business owner on Group Health Plans and also sell other insurance products. There is just way too much to know about Health Insurance. I’ve taught Employee Benefits at UC Santa Cruz Extension where the class was made up of other insurance brokers, financial advisors and other consultants. When I started, I was so nervous because I’d only been involved in Health Benefits for about 8 years. What was completely shocking to me was that brokers that don’t specialize in Health, were completely clueless about some of the basic mandates and compliance issues. These people had much larger agencies than mine, and had been advising clients for years. The ACA has turned this industry upside down and unless you’re a specialist, you are not doing your clients any favors.
Specialists not Generalists
Believe me, we have plenty of business. Most of which has come from CFOs, CEOs, Controllers, and other business owners that have sought us out because of our reputation for this specialty. One word of advise….find a Health Broker that you trust. Make sure they know what they’re doing and have all of the ACA Federal certifications. Ask them three questions, 1) How are they going to keep you compliant and 2) what strategies can they point to that separates them from others, and 3) Do they sell any other lines of insurance. That will tell you volumes about who they are and if they have what it takes to keep you out of trouble and saving as much money as possible.