By
Matt Jantzen
Alliance
Published
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
In this Article, I talk about what every employee needs to know about health coverage during a job transition. This is the first article in a series that will focus on the exact process that every employee needs to apply when they lose their health coverage. Hope this helps!
“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.” ~ Brian Tracy
How do you find the right health coverage when you lose your job?
The answer to the question “How do I?” can almost universally be answered the same way every time it is asked.
It’s a very simple answer that comes from knowing the process and having the right tools for whatever it is that you are trying to accomplish.
If you have those two pieces of the puzzle, the process and the tools, everything else becomes very simple.
Finding the right health coverage for those that are going through a job loss is no different.
It seems like a very daunting task but if you know the process and have the right tools, it’s possible to figure it out very quickly.
Insurance Agents Are Not The Answer
Wait, what? I bet you thought this article was a ploy to get you to contact our office about buying insurance from us, didn’t you?
The fact is, I am a licensed insurance agent but I’m telling you right now that insurance agents are not the answer. Agents may be part of the answer but they’re not the whole solution.
You see, I used to be a health insurance sales agent, but even before that I was a financial services representative.
Many of my finance clients would ask me about their health coverage, which I didn’t know anything about at the time.
I would simply refer them to a health insurance agent who I thought would have more expertise in that area.
After feedback from my clients, I quickly learned that those health insurance agents had more expertise in sales tactics than overall health coverage planning.
They had specific products that they could offer and it was their job to sell those products.
Not that that is a bad thing, it just doesn’t address every need and every possible solution.
My clients needed real help. They needed guidance to help them figure out the right way to approach their health coverage and implement a plan of action.
I wanted to be able to either recommend an expert to my clients, or give them relevant information that would help them make a good decision about their health coverage plan.
I quickly realized that there weren’t many options out there that would provide clear direction for my clients regarding health coverage.
It was at that point that I decided to become a health insurance agent in addition to my financial services role.
It was one of those situations where “if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself”.
I couldn’t find a reliable and ethical health insurance agent that would approach my clients’ situation from a planning perspective instead of a sales opportunity.
I didn’t necessarily want to sell health insurance… It took extra time and effort on top of my other duties as a financial services rep, but it felt great to help the clients that needed it.
Before I knew it, word had gotten out that I was an “expert” and my fellow financial advisors were referring their clients to me for health coverage advice.
After a while, I realized that my business had quietly transitioned from that of a financial advisor, to a full time health insurance agent.
So 12 years ago, I transitioned out of financial services and went full time into health insurance sales.
I realized that what individual and families needed, especially during a job loss, was an advisor to guide them through the process and help them develop a health coverage plan that meets their specific needs
So that was my mission.
People need a health coverage advisor, not an insurance sales agent.
What You Need To Know About Health Insurance
The one thing I learned very quickly is that health insurance in and of itself is not the solution to the problem.
It’s just one of several options available to transitioning employees. Here are a few others:
Health Coverage Options
COBRA
State insurance programs
Federal Insurance Programs
Premium Tax Credits
Medicaid
Medicare
Health sharing options
Indemnity plans
Short term plans
Supplements
Health Savings Accounts
Health Reimbursement Arrangements
...Any combination of the above
I became very aware of WHY it was so hard to find a good health insurance agent back when I was a financial services rep.
It took a lot of time and effort to effectively evaluate a person’s health coverage situation, make a good recommendation and then implement that recommendation.
And on top of that, most of the programs I just mentioned above do not compensate agents.
Add these two issues together and you’ve got a business that’s time consuming and low revenue.
I saw how it would be much more profitable to just try and sell an insurance policy that may or may not be the best solution for the client. But it’s coverage, and it pays.
During my career as an insurance agent, this posed a real problem for me.
On one hand, I wanted to provide the best possible advice to the clients that needed the help.
On the other hand, I needed a revenue stream to stay in business.
I knew that folks desperately needed practical advice about their health coverage… especially those that had lost or were getting ready to lose their coverage due to a job loss.
I had grown to love helping people in this specific area of health coverage, but I also knew that I had to make a change.
If I kept doing what I was doing, I would not be able to stay in business very long and those folks that needed help, probably weren’t going to get the advice they needed.
They were going to get a salesperson.
What’s Needed The Most: A Plan VS. A Product
I realized two things that caused me to rethink my business model:
I was in a field that the government was heavily involved in
I was not a salesman. I was acting more like a consultant or an advisor.
When I realized this fact, I started searching out to see how other consultants and advisors structured their businesses.
I found out what I already knew.
Real advisors and consultants, such as lawyers, CPA’s, business consultants, and even doctors have one thing in common.
They don’t sell products for a commission.
They sell their expertise. They sell a plan of action, a strategy, a remedy.
I finally realized that what people need the most is not an insurance policy or a sales agent, but a HEALTH COVERAGE PLAN AND AND ADVISOR.
That’s when I completely changed my business model from a sales based system to a consulting based process.
I no longer sold insurance, I guided clients through a process that resulted in the best possible health coverage plan that they could have… not just the sale of an insurance policy.
This gave me new energy. I dove deep.
I studied and researched government programs, private insurance policies, taxes, regulations, hospital and doctor networks, prescription plans, Medicare, Medicaid… you name it, I researched it.
As I started to apply my new found role as a health coverage advisor, the results started to come in.
The individuals and families that came to me for help were so grateful that they had finally found a place that they could get real help.
A place that they felt had their best interest in mind, not just another insurance sales agent.
They didn’t have to go online and get 20 different quotes and talk to 4 different insurance agents only to be left with information overload and hours of processing to do.
It felt so rewarding to be able to provide a service that was not only beneficial to my clients, but actually made a difference and an impact on their lives.
How To Quickly Develop Your Health Coverage Strategy
In part 2 of this article series I go over the essential components of your health coverage strategy and how you can quickly pinpoint thy type of coverage you need.
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