Here’s a question: How much time should agents spend trying to convince people that they need health insurance?
As an insurance professional, you no doubt recognize the importance of having health coverage for yourself and your family. The primary reason to purchase insurance, of course, is to protect against potentially catastrophic claims in the event of a serious and unexpected injury or illness. While a fortunate few are able to pay tens of thousands of dollars for medical care, a big hospital bill would create financial hardship for the majority of Americans.
A second very important reason to have health insurance is because it provides access to medical care. While hospitals that accept Medicare are required to provide stabilizing treatment to anyone who shows up in the emergency room regardless of ability to pay, this requirement does not extend to non-emergent care. Having health coverage can literally save a person’s life since not all medical facilities will treat people without insurance.
A third reason is because the free up-front preventive care that’s included in all ACA-compliant individual and group health plans.
One final reason to have health insurance is because it gives people peace of mind. Living without health insurance and knowing that they could be just one accident away from financial ruin is stressful for a lot of people. Having health insurance, even when they’re unlikely to use it, relieves this stress and allows them to focus on other priorities.
With all of that said, there are people out there who don’t believe they need and therefore don’t want health insurance. You can probably think of multiple people right now who just didn’t buy your argument that health coverage is both important and necessary and chose instead to remain uninsured. As agents, it can be frustrating when we encounter individuals who just don’t “get it.”
So how do you deal with these people? How much effort do you put into trying to convince them that they should, in fact, purchase health insurance? And how successful are you when you do attempt to educate insurance prospects?
If you’re like a lot of insurance advisors, you’ve probably given up on trying to save the world. There are people who, for whatever reason, just don’t prioritize health insurance and, short of learning from experience when they actually have a medical event, are unlikely to change their minds just because we list off the reasons. Continuing to try to convince them could well be a futile effort. We certainly can’t blame you for choosing not to waste your time.
That does not mean, however, that you should stop educating your clients about the need for health insurance. The fact is that there are a lot of people out there with health coverage who need to be reminded from time to time of the value of the policy that they’re paying for every month. Each time a big premium is due, there’s a chance that someone who’s not using his or her policy much may decide that he or she no longer needs it. Reminding people on a regular basis that health insurance is something you buy but hope not to use is actually a good use of your time. It helps retain business and actually increases consumer satisfaction.
There’s another good reason to remind your current clients why they have health coverage: because they may have more influence than you do when trying to convince others of the need. In other words, your current clients apparently understand the need for health insurance, but they may not fully grasp all of the benefits. If you can arm them with this information, then they can make the argument for you to their friends and loved ones who don’t yet seem to understand. Over time, perhaps they’ll be successful and will send you some new clients.
In short, we DO need to continue telling people all of the reasons they need health insurance, but it might be a more valuable use of our time to educate those who currently have health coverage than those who don’t.