A question I hear often is: ‘Why do you charge a fee? I could go to another Missouri insurance broker or an insurance provider that signs me up for less – even nothing!’. Our answer is simple: our fee means we work for you, and not anyone else.
There’s an old saying first said about television: “When the product is free, YOU are the product.” That saying applies to Health Insurance as well. A health insurance agent that doesn’t charge a fee isn’t working for you – they’re working for the big insurance companies. Those brokers make their money only from commission – and they make more commission by selling you on plans preferred by the insurance companies.
What’s best for an insurance company is often not the best for you. An insurance company wants to spend as little money on you as possible – while getting the most money from you it can. Of course, every company is like that but there’s something that makes your relationship with an insurance company different from a grocery store – information. You’ve probably been to other grocery stores. You know what a good price for milk is. You know how to pick a good apple from a bad apple. You and the grocery store usually see eye-to-eye, and the grocery store knows if it gives you a bad deal, you’ll just go to another grocery store.
The same is not true for insurance companies – you don’t know exactly how much you might need to use your health insurance, and many plans are so complex that it’s hard to know if you’re getting a good deal on the health insurance. The insurance companies though – they have hundreds and hundreds of actuaries whose only job is to estimate how often someone like you will use your health insurance. You operate at an information deficit compared to the insurance companies – and they use that to squeeze you. Also, you can’t change your coverage at any time. If you do have a health emergency, you can’t just switch companies like you could with the grocery store.
To even the playing field between you and the big insurance companies is a big reason why we exist. That’s why we dedicate ourselves to knowing all the little details of each plan, and how each one impacts your healthcare and finances. Our fee allows us to do that and provide customer service year-round. That means our job is to work for you, not the insurance companies.
