Broker blog

How do you gauge success of the benefit plans you sell to your groups? Maybe it’s staying within your client’s budget, keeping coverage for spouses and families, and ticking off boxes of the “must-haves.” 

Can we all agree that Telehealth is here to stay? The service has gained immense popularity as an employee benefit. As a result, millions of Americans now enjoy reduced out-of-pocket costs and more convenient access to care. 

The following article by Jo Ann Vernon first appeared in the May 2017 edition of "California Broker Magazine." Jo Ann serves as freshbenies Broker Sales Executive to the West.

How many of your clients are considering self-insurance? It’s gaining popularity among a wider variety of employers – even around the Pacific and Mountain time zones where groups have been slower to adopt self-funded options.

What’s the #1 reason an employer makes the decision to stop offering freshbenies? First, let me say this doesn’t happen often. But, when it does, we like to ask why they’ve made the decision to leave us. Almost always the answer is that their employees aren’t using the benefits, but they quickly follow up by taking the blame and saying that they didn’t do a good job of promoting the services. 

Do you believe the saying, “It’s better to give than receive?” It’s a great thing for a parent to tell a selfish kid. Personally, I like both! 

When I was in college, a friend called me with all the enthusiasm of a new convert gushing about an amazing book he read from an author named Napoleon Hill. The book was called “Think and Grow Rich.” It was the start of my love affair with business reading.

I just returned from the 2017 BenefitsPRO Broker Expo in Indianapolis. In light of the recent health care reformdebacle, I expected to get the pulse of the fast-changing employee benefits business and the brokers that are on the front lines working with customers. I was NOT disappointed.  

Following are my top 10 takeaways from the conference…. 

Things aren’t always as they seem, are they? From the outside looking in, people might think commissions for health insurance brokers are at an all-time high given the steep rise in premiums over the last several years. And with more individuals seeking coverage to avoid ACA penalties, that should be adding to the pile of money, too. Right?

Industry insiders know commissions continue to be slowly siphoned off. Insurers strip commissions to influence which plans brokers sell, and some have stripped commissions from individual plans entirely.