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As much as we all hate to admit it, the insurance industry is among the least trusted professions. Unfortunately, much of that distrust is warranted or at least understandable. To argue that the industry isn’t confusing and broken, specifically in health insurance/care, would be a fool's argument.
However, there are fools among us who perpetuate and feed a stereotype that causes this distrust and hurts an entire industry. More on that in a moment.
We have to look in the mirror
Here are a few reasons the public, in general, is so mistrustful of the insurance industry.
- Perception of profit motive: There's a widespread belief that insurance companies and their agents prioritize profit over the well-being of their clients. This can lead to suspicions that agents might push unnecessary policies or deny legitimate claims to maximize profits.
- Complexity and lack of transparency: Insurance policies can be complex and confusing, filled with jargon and fine print that can be difficult for the average person to understand. This lack of transparency can create distrust, as clients may feel misled or not fully informed about what they're purchasing.
- Negative experiences: Many people have had negative experiences with denied or delayed insurance claims. These experiences can foster a general distrust of insurance professionals as unhelpful or unethical.
- Sales practices: Some insurance professionals may engage in aggressive sales tactics to meet targets or quotas, which can make potential clients feel pressured or manipulated into buying policies that may not suit them.
- Cultural and media portrayal: Insurance professionals are sometimes portrayed negatively in popular culture and media, which can reinforce stereotypes and negative perceptions.
I could write a book about what is broken and in need of repair in the industry. I’ll also be the first to admit that bad players exist in every corner of our industry. I suspect this is the case in most industries, as it is a sad reality of human behavior.
A bright light
However, I want to focus on what I believe to be the brightest light in our industry: benefits advisors who are on the frontline of serving employers' needs. With all the legitimate reasons not to trust the insurance industry as a whole, employers desperately need the advice and guidance of these advisors. With an advisor being the only direct connection most employers have to the industry, their need to find an advisor they trust and who has their best interests in mind is critical. Advisors may be the only resource employers can use to navigate and understand the complexities and ridiculousness of insurance.
Back to the fools among us
Which brings me to the primary point of this blog. I continue to see advisors and former advisors attack other advisors and call their ethics, motivation, and commitments into play for one basic reason: the commission they receive from insurance carriers.
Admittedly, I’m biased and base this next claim on personal experience and observations. Frontline benefits advisors are the most consistently pure of intent and customer-aligned individuals in the benefits industry.
Because I believe this so passionately, I was recently infuriated by a LinkedIn post from an industry “professional.” This is someone who uses the valuable real estate that is his LinkedIn headline to claim:
"Benefits Brokers Have No Incentive To Control Your Costs."
He then went on in this post to imply that because a brokerage was growing organically, it must be because it “allowed” health insurance premiums (and its commissions) to increase at the expense of its clients. He didn’t even allow for the possibility that organic growth largely comes from selling new business or that the growth numbers could have been despite placing appropriate clients in alternative funding plans.
He asserted that if you are paid commission and fees on products, you work for the carriers and don't give a shit about your actual clients.
To quote one line:
"Benefits brokers are hurting your company more than you think . . ."
He then claims that brokers put their clients at financial risk, legal risk, and are crippled by reduced productivity. There was no caveat that this “sometimes happens,” but it was a broad-brushed, self-serving attack on brokers in general.
I can't even begin to describe how insulting the accusations are. If this had been an isolated occurrence, I would have rolled my eyes, mentally labeled the author as “less than desirable,” and scrolled right past it. But this type of attack and accusation is way too common.
Bad apples should not spoil the whole barrel
As I said earlier, bad players exist in every corner of our industry. However, it is unacceptable to assert that the way you are compensated should call your motivation, heart, and loyalty into question.
Some of the most client-first advisors/brokers I know serve segments of the employer market where fully insured plans (yes, the commission is built in) are their only viable option.
I see commission-compensated brokers bust their asses and offer the right advice every freaking day to their clients. I also see fee-based brokers who have no business putting their clients into alternative funding plans and offering the advice they do.
Implying that the form of compensation is automatically a red flag as to someone's intentions, that they don’t put the client’s best interests first, is careless and reads as self-serving rhetoric.
So many brokers/advisors who adopt the tone and similar messages as the one in this post have built their careers, and many continue to, on commission-based products (medical products or others). The hypocrisy of these attacks would be laughable if they didn’t do such widespread damage. The next time you see such a post, look through the poster's experience; I can all but guarantee you will see an entanglement with the parts of the industry they now attack.
Do better, be better
I mentioned earlier in this post that I will be the first to point out that many areas of our industry are broken and must be fixed. But I can't stand by and remain silent while baseless, broad-brush accusations are made against a segment of the industry filled with some of the most giving, hard-working, and client-loyal professionals I know.
This recent post is yet another example of our own industry perpetuating the stereotype that leads to us being one of the least trusted industries by consumers.
Back to this poster’s headline: “Benefits Brokers Have No Incentive To Control Your Costs.” This statement alone shows a head-shaking level of arrogance and naïvete. Advisors with any level of awareness at all know that if they don't offer advice and make recommendations that are in the client's best interest, they will lose that client to another broker who will.
Come on, folks, we’re all better than this.
Content originally published on Q4intelligence
Photo by mapo
