Have you ever talked to a friend before buying a car?
I know I have.
And I’ve been buying cars for decades.
Even though I know what I like (and generally what I’m looking for) I always feel more comfortable when I run my purchase ideas by my friend first.
I like to talk it through because he is a CAR GUY.
He’s not a car salesman but Kelley Blue Book could probably save a bunch of time and effort writing their next edition if they just spent an afternoon with him and let him talk about cars.
Chances are if you are lucky enough to have a friend, or brother, or aunt who KNOWS cars you probably ask them to come with you to the car lot or at least send them a quick text before you buy to get their input before you exchange your hard earned money for the vehicle.
You want them to validate that car you are considering and get them to give you a thumbs up (or a thumbs down) BEFORE that car becomes your favorite ride (or biggest headache).
Having someone to validate your insurance plans BEFORE you purchase is a lot like having someone validate that car purchase.
You know what your business usually purchases.
You generally know what you want.
Most importantly, you know there *might* be something hiding under the hood that an experienced professional could see straight away that the untrained eye might have missed.
Think about it. Used Car Salesmen sometimes get a bad reputation because they sell cars that are not perfect. But if the disclosures are there and there was nothing hidden did that salesperson do a bad job?
No, he or she will assume that providing details in writing about exactly what you were getting would be sufficient to put you on notice.
Similarly, does your insurance plan have everything spelled out?
By law, yes: disclosures are there in writing for you to review.
But if you don’t know what you are looking for, or the IMPACT of those words on your policy (and price) it really doesn’t do you much good.
Benefit renewals are just around the corner.
And with the way the world is right now we are not in a time where we can do a full blown two month RFP Process.
The table is set for unscrupulous insurance companies to put in a blanket rate increase knowing that the businesses are stretched thin and probably won’t push back against an increase that doesn’t feel “too bad.”
However, it is super important to me that unwitting businesses that are maxed out with pandemic precautions do not simply accept price increases because they are running on fumes and don’t have the expertise to fully understand what they are looking at.
You run buying decisions by people who KNOW CARS before you buy a car.
Run your policy by someone who KNOWS INSURANCE before you blindly accept a rate increase during these unprecedented times.
Employee Benefit Consultant at Kelly & Associates Insurance Services
4 年Interesting article...several statements about purchasing insurance from people who “know” insurance. Every advisor should be fighting on behalf of their client, unfortunately in the fully insurer space the carriers have the upper hand. The lack of claim and healthcare cost transparency is the underlying issue. Costs are based on claims, understanding carrier/facility contracts is critical.
Transforming Customer Success: Award-Winning Onboarding Manager | Driving PLG Growth | 5+ Years in B2B Startups
4 年Steve Watson CPA, SHRM-SCP a fantastically written article with a story we can all relate to. As you allude to it is mind-blowing that for almost any other purchase in life we compare until we find the best deal. However, when it comes to health insurance it seems that in general people accept more to receive less. I recently read a study by PWC which mentioned that 67% of CFO's have already taken actions to contain costs as they expect a decrease in revenue. The good news is that there are strategies that reduce profit leak, free up cash flow, and enhance benefits while reducing overall spending, but we have as advisers have to start from a place of understanding.
Keeping benefits agencies simply connected | Founder & CEO, Signal Sync | Founder, Innovative Broker Services
4 年This correlation between buying a car and health insurance kinda makes me laugh, because we're almost eliminating from the conversation the "emotional aspect" of buying health insurance and there are many more unique aspects that go into the cost of health insurance (like if you have 2 cancer patients on your roster, what are you going to do about it?), as there are so many aspects of health insurance that no one can control and to suggest that it's as easy going on a website and doing a comparison, that or just calling a person whom has their company experience? The other aspect, that is not lost on me, is that if we have 100 employees in a Company, would this be like 100 people making separate car buying decisions? In fact, I think the people whom are most qualified to make educated comments about are the one's whom have gone to school and got their licenses in this field...get a referral to a good broker is probably the best advice, as they are the car experts in this case! And, if you want to make sure your objectives are aligned, just have your contract quoted without Commissions and pay your Broker/Consultant directly and have them investigate the supply chain and see if the renewal is appropriate. No one wants to hear this, but rate increases happen as I mentioned earlier in this email, what if you had 2 cancers on your roster? There are some realities that may be in play and I've never "blindly" accepted any renewal, as that would be a breach of my fiduciary role.
Owner at Vero Advising. Champion and promoter of transparent cash payments for all healthcare transactions
4 年I don't think this is as different than any other renewal. It's just not a subject that many businesses like to think/talk about. So the quicker they can get through it, the better
Founder / Managing Partner at Enrollment Alliance
4 年Hi Steve, Came across your article and LOVE your approach to help your peers. Just curious if you also advise on the enrollment process? Now, more than ever, it's critical to evaluate how employees consume info about their benefits and how to make their elections.