The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the creation of state-based health insurance exchanges will bring significant changes to the health care marketplace. Agents will need to reinvent themselves to survive in this new and transforming environment. The sentiment being echoed by many agents and producers around the country is — diversify.
Traditionally, agents have focused on specific areas, such as group health, individual health, long-term care (LTC), and disability insurance (DI). However, in 2011 and beyond we can expect more crossover as independent agents and agencies add more new coverages than ever before and expand into additional specialty or niche health insurance markets.
Fortunately, health insurance agents looking to branch out should find new opportunities in the post-Obama health care reform era. Opportunities include marketing products and services such as international health insurance, wellness & EAP/behavioral health programs, TRICARE supplements, and discount prescription cards. Growth in these markets and many traditional lines — such as life insurance, AD&D, disability and overhead expense insurance, LTC, and critical illness policies — will boom in 2011 and beyond.
However, more markets will mean more work, often with reduced staff. The health insurance community has been a leader in creating and leveraging workflow efficiencies in critical areas such as sharing electronic medical data information between providers and payers, immediate claims adjudication, predicting diagnoses, and improving quality of care measures. Accountable Care Organizations, which will be ready in 2012 to coordinate all aspects of patient care, will be accountable for quality of care, including sharing costs and reimbursements with hospitals, physicians, and allied health care providers.
Opportunities Exist at Many Levels
For the entrepreneurial-minded, opportunities also exist in ancillary services. Insourcing in America will thrive for vendors working with health insurance and health care-related companies. The demand for efficiency will create new companies working specifically with health insurance agents and agencies. Increasingly, agents will be relying on outside resources to provide marketplace efficiencies for their companies and organizations, all to benefit their clients. These new companies are not like general agencies, which derive their incomes from overriding commissions. Rather, they charge a flat fee for services such as customer service, appointment setting, technology solutions, direct mailing, public relations, and telemarketing.
Personal Producing General Agencies (PPGAs) will grow as more agents succeed with niche markets and carve-out opportunities to represent their favorite insurance companies through a GA distribution arrangement. Independent agencies specializing in LTC, individual health, worksite marketing, international health insurance, and many other niche markets already are using these entities. The expected expansion of PPGAs is an exceptional opportunity for entrepreneurs looking to expand their natural market and a great way for new or existing carriers to ramp up their production and exposure.
More agent opportunities exist in providing consulting services to Fortune 500 companies by identifying options and opportunities for their clients to save money with their human resource administration. Some agents are helping clients administer their employee benefits by consulting with them on payroll, finance, and IT concerns.
Get Connected
Agents and agencies are becoming increasingly Internet savvy, embracing technology and pushing themselves and their partner health insurance carriers into new and more efficient frontiers. Leveraging technology has produced an increased volume of business for many innovative insurance companies, large and small. Hopefully, we will see continued Internet expansion into the selling of Medicare Supplements, disability, LTC, and even life insurance.
Agents and agencies without a web site will not succeed in our new age of health insurance marketing. The Internet is a global communications tool. The health insurance agent needs to be engaged with social networking to take advantage of the potential opportunities available through the Internet and blogosphere. Insurance agents should connect to services like LinkedIn, Facebook, Digg, and Twitter to share their knowledge on related health insurance topics. For those multilingual agents marketing international health insurance, there are even more opportunities and social networking sites available to connect with prospects.
Also, submitting articles for your local newspapers, professional publications, and online services can provide additional exposure of your expertise and knowledge. Active membership in your industry association will be critical in staying current with health care reform's regulatory and legislative changes and connecting with respective social networking communities.
Successful health insurance professionals will continue to adapt to economic and social changes, and adjust their markets and business models accordingly. The health insurance agent is here to stay, but in a new capacity that we are still defining through our collective industry efforts and individual creative achievements.
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