AHCP Blog (29)

The Future is Bright

July 31, 2016

We like to focus on the things we should be thankful for. You might have guessed, this is a feel-good article. Our hope is that if you’re feeling a bit down, it’ll help you realize how fortunate we all are to work in the insurance industry. We certainly feel fortunate and believe that the future is bright for health insurance agents. Instead of focusing on the negative, we thought we’d focus on the things we should be thankful for. Here’s why:

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2017 Marketplace and Medicare Registration and Training

July 26, 2016

Remember the good old days when agents took a test, got licensed, and then simply had to complete a few continuing education classes each year to maintain their license? Not anymore. If you sell in either the individual or the Medicare markets, the government requires agents to complete annual training to remain certified to sell through the Federally Facilitated Marketplace (FFM). And guess what? It’s that time of the year again.

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What type of broker are you?

July 11, 2016

Consumers come in all shapes and sizes, and as a result you need different strategies for selling to different consumers. For instance, some people understand the need for health insurance and have plenty of funds to buy it. While they may be a minority, they’re the type of clients that immediately understand the value of having health insurance, and these types of clients are more likely to result in a simple sale for you. But, many other sales take a bit more effort.

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Here’s a Great Way to Supplement Your Commissions

July 5, 2016

When consumers buy less coverage, the cost of that coverage is supposed to go down. But that’s not what’s happened in recent years. Deductibles and out-of-pocket costs are higher than ever before, and so are monthly premiums—for millions of Americans, the new ACA plans really aren’t all that affordable.

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Obamacare turns 6. Will it make it to 7?

June 6, 2016

It’s hard to believe, but on March 23rd the Affordable Care Act turned six years old. The time’s flown by, hasn’t it? By now you’ve learned how to adapt to the changes created by the law, and you may have even grown your business and your income over the past few years.

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How to Sell HMO Plans

June 2, 2016

The individual insurance market is seeing some hard-hitting changes. Premiums in many markets have increased more than expected, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs continue to go up, and now some carriers are beginning to drop their popular PPO plans.

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Medicare and Job-Based Coverage

May 26, 2016

More and more people these days are working past age 65, so many of them have a tough decision to make: should they stay on the company’s group health plan, drop the group coverage and enroll in Medicare, or sign up for both the group health plan and Medicare? The answer, like many in the insurance world, depends on the employee’s own unique situation. This post, while not comprehensive, will point out some of the things people need to consider when evaluating their coverage options.

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Are you selling Final Expense Insurance? You should be.

May 18, 2016

Sooner or later, we’ll all have them: final expenses. When we pass away, there are a number of bills yet to be paid. The funeral, of course, is the big one for most people; burials, caskets, services, this all costs money. There are other expenses that happen as well; like medical bills, helping family and friends fly in for the service, and more. That’s where final expense insurance can help. So here is the question.

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HHS Changes Transition Rules AGAIN

May 9, 2016

HHS changes transition rules AGAIN. Ok, it’s starting to get a bit ridiculous. Every time brokers think they have the ACA figured out, the government changes the rules. It happened again just recently. Before we tell you about the rule change, though, here’s a quick summary of how we got here.

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