Is Now the Time To Change Careers as a Health Insurance Agent?
When I first started out as a health insurance agent a few years ago things were good in the industry. Almost too good. I was able to make as much money every two weeks as I had in a month with my previous job. The people that needed individual health insurance consisted of a large group of self employed business people who had to provide their own insurance and a small group of people who were in between jobs who needed temporary coverage. The prices were much better and the benefits were also better. The economy was much better but as you know that has all changed dramatically.
Now it seems like the majority of people looking for individual health insurance coverage are now people who have been laid off from jobs who will only keep coverage until they find another job with benefits, or if they do not find employment, keep their policy only as long as they have the money to pay. On top of this, most are used to employer provided coverage which was much less expensive and usually had a higher level of benefits.
The old customer base of self employed small business owners who are looking to buy health insurance are also in a big pinch from the current economic conditions and are primarily looking to cut back on coverage to save money or dropping it alltogether. All in all, this is causing me a lot of headaches as a health insurance agent.
Although I am still selling the same amount of policies (if not more) as I always have, my retention has just plummeted. Customers that I have had for years just can’t afford to pay ever increasing premiums and new customers do not stay long. I am just at an impass as to whether I should continue primarily selling health insurance or move on to more profitable lines of insurance sales.
Also looming on the not to distant horizon is the possibility of universal health care. I am actually all for this despite the huge tax burden it would cause. To me, as an agent, I have seen too many hardships caused by people having no health coverage, and if you think about it, we are all paying for those who are uninsured one way or another anyway. I just hope the powers that be do it right and don’t make a total mess of it, that is what my biggest concern is.
Let me know what you think…
Mac (beatuplunchbox)
