Boo Hoo: Insurance Agents Feel Left Out Of Obamacare

[RandySF]

MIAMI (AP) -- When insurance agent Kelly Fristoe recently spent 30 minutes helping a client pick a mid-level health plan and the federal marketplace website froze, he called the government's hotline and tried to finish the application. But the operator refused to credit Fristoe as an agent on the application, meaning he wouldn't get the commission or be listed as the follow-up contact if his client needed help again later.

The Wichita Falls, Texas, insurance agent is one of many brokers around the country finding frustration as they try to help customers navigate the Affordable Care Act's marketplaces while earning the commissions they've long built their businesses around. Some insurers and insurance agents are calling on President Barack Obama's administration to allow them to bypass healthcare.gov and enroll consumers directly amid growing complaints about problems with enrollment information generated from the website.

The so-called 'back-end' problems could mean that consumers who think they've successfully signed up for a health plan, may find themselves unable to access their coverage come January. The problems include enrollment information that's rendered practically useless by errors, duplication or garbles. Efforts to fix the issues are underway.

Nearly 70,000 agents and brokers have been certified nationwide to sell health insurance on the federal exchange. Many say they could be the troubled health law's best ambassadors with the potential to boost lackluster enrollment figures -- only about 27,000 had enrolled via the federal website nationwide in the first month. But instead, many agents said they're continually met by obstacles.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/08/insurance-agents-obamacare_n_4408508.html?utm_hp_ref=business

[Autumn]

1. I'll cheer when the insurance companies feel left out of Obamacare

The agents are just trying to make a commission, that's their jobs. The insurance companies are getting all the money.

[Hoyt]

2. Right or wrong, insurer failures will not be good for patients under Obamacare.

[TransitJohn]

3. Why do people who add no value feel entitled to extract cash for doing nothing?

This is like record companies still feeling as though they're entitled to a cut of a band selling a track over the internet to a fan.

[djean111]

4. In a way, the agents provide more value than the insurance companies.

Some people do need help.

[TransitJohn]

5. They add value like a travel agent adds to vacation planning

not much.

[djean111]

6. I see where you are coming from, but when I make travel arrangements,

like a three week trip to Australia/New Zealand a while back, sometimes a travel agent is invaluable. renting cars, in-country flights, hotels in different cities, etc.
If an insurance agent can help someone who has no idea what they are doing, that is better than someone thinking they have successfully signed up when they have not, or have picked a plan that is bad for them. I want success stories for everyone.
Some people are just not good with the internet, and cannot travel for help or whatever.

[jberryhill]

7. There are a lot of choices in some places

There's nothing wrong with a commission for helping people make decisions.