Celtic

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I also like Producer World.

Another great Aetna situation...single SMOKING parent with three or more kids. Wow! Great rate as long as BMI is good and no conditions.

Also (at least in Ohio)...female rates from 34-54 are unreal. If they smoke and are in good health....rediculous!

 

[TXINSURANCE]

Aetna is far from tech.

The online app is poorly written and designed, agent services is a joke - it is virtually impossible to sort by status, and the biggest fault...

NO NOTIFICATION OF CANCELLATIONS!!! Online or postal mail.

I have been meaning to audit my commission statement for some time now, you have to watch them, they are notorious for "forgetting" to draft clients and then just drafting them multiple when they feel like it.

All of that is workable when you have a good priced, high benefit product and a company that actually pays it's claims.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I find it easy to sort by status. You can click "status" which will sort the apps or you can click "app received date" for recently received apps. Of course, you guys probably put more in more Aetna apps in a week than I do in a year.

Aetna also pays in-office lab at the copay - something most carriers don't offer. Almost 2 g's worth of testing at $40. Happy client?

 

[TXINSURANCE]

There are about 20 status codes... for example... APPROVED, APPROVED RATE UP, DECLINED, CLOSED, etc., etc.,

You can not to a blanket status sort like Wellpoint (Unicare / Anthem), BCBS and others - in other words it is a huge pain.

I know they have some tech initiatives, since we are right now basically using the small group online technology which was adapted.

FYI - My Aetna retention is extremely high, zero complains, no claim issues... knock on wood - but at this time they are riding high, hopefully they won't get pushed out on rate increases when claims start rolling in.

 

[BKrocko]

Aetna is far from tech.

The online app is poorly written and designed, agent services is a joke - it is virtually impossible to sort by status, and the biggest fault...

NO NOTIFICATION OF CANCELLATIONS!!! Online or postal mail.

I have been meaning to audit my commission statement for some time now, you have to watch them, they are notorious for "forgetting" to draft clients and then just drafting them multiple when they feel like it.

All of that is workable when you have a good priced, high benefit product and a company that actually pays it's claims.

I think the best we can hope for at this point is to check the "Pre Dunning" report via your TIN/GA number - found in producer world under "my book of business". This will at least allow you to view any of your clients who are in their grace period.

 

[BKrocko]

Okay, it appears that we have successfully hijacked this thread - gone from Celtic to Aetna. With that being said, I have a couple of more complaints pertaining to Aetna's business model.

#1 - They still do not allow CC premium payments except for the 1st draft (if they remember to draft it).

#2 - They still allow the option (on paper apps), to be paper billed each month without any additional charges. These are the clients who will lapse because they forgot to send in payment. I recommend that they only offer that option with surcharges applied. Humana will do it but they charge the client $10/month more.

Outside of these administrative complaints, I am very pleased with Aetna as a whole. Have never received a single complaint from clients so far - they do what they say they will do. It appears that they will continue to be my #1 carrier though out '08. It is always a "flavor of the year" in this business. Who knows, in '09 it could be Big Blue - but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Flavor of the year is a dead on statement. When I came into the biz I was selling the "Fortis" 192 series Physical/Hospital plan with no deductible on drugs, $8 copay on name brand with no coinsurance and unlimited visits at a $25 copay. Almost every client chose a $1,000 deductible because the price was great - I almost never had to go to $1,500. GR had horrible plans - that Copay 25 and 35 junk with lacking wellness benefits and Assurant blew their rates away in MD.

Aetna wasn't even in the game. Now we have Coventry in MD and it's flipped - now GR smokes Assurant's rates and I'm writing more GR than Assurant.

If Aetna played their cards right and allowed more flexible options with their plans they could be a contender.

 

[J.R.]

It's really a matter of doing what is right for the client. Each carrier can continue onward without improving if we, as agents, do not speak up. Ever wonder why BCBS here in MD STILL only pays $18ish a month....it's because they can and they know that! Disgusts me..........Might as well go work at McDonald's if that's your business model due to all the stuff that clients DON'T SEE about our job.

Here's my critique of the aforementioned companies.

Aetna.. Very nice plans and rates in PA with adequate underwriting. Aetna in MD is overpriced in most circumstances, but as John pointed out, their maternity is awesome. Aetna underwriting department has turned around with regards to pre-screens. I've been very pleased with how fast they have improved since I started selling them last Janaury.

They need to offer downloadable software to run rates, as well as GIVES OUT AGENT ID'S. It's very annoying to have to give out our SS # everytime we call in. Their commission isn't the greatest and I'm not a big fan of as-earned, although it has it's place and is not a major issue.

GR has rocks it for healthy people and clients who are not primarily concerned about paying for their meds out of pocket. Their plans are A- IMHO. Pricing is great, agent support is a C+ and they need to look at what Assurant is doing in regards to the EASE system. They also need to update their desktop software to make it more palatable (minor issue) to the eye, with the ability to e-mail rates, applications, etc.

Assurant is awesome at agent service and goes above and beyond to help. Underwriting is smooth 90% of the time, rates are a bit high lately, but they did wise up and reduce their rates recently. They need to offer a competitive co pay plan to be competitive with the other carriers, as well as give people the option to lower their drug deductible and drug co-insurance levels. I LOVE the rate lock guarantee! A- for plans...

Software is awesome, but they need to make an effort to allow agents to track business AFTER the case has been improved.

Humana- time will tell.

 

[somarco]

a maternity benefit with no waiting period.

Is that a MD mandate? If so, could explain their rate increase.

They have been in GA almost 3 years. Haven't seen anything really bad in the rate increases. Almost flat. They did improve their plans slightly this last go around by removing the $5k Rx cap on all plans.

They are a 2nd tier player here.

Have to agree with the others (back to the original post). I see no reason to use Celtic.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I have no concept how the mandates work or are applied. MD has 58 mandated benefits and not a single indie carrier - not even BX complies with all of them.

4 years into the biz and still no one can explain mandates to me. "Fortis" claimed they had to offer wellness with no waiting periods because it was a mandate - yet GR didn't have 1st year wellness 'til Copay Select. I called GR and they said they didn't have to comply do their association. But Fortis was association-based also.

I called Aetna and they claim they must offer maternity in MD. However, GR doesn't and also Coventry doesn't offer any maternity. Want to get more confused? Coventry does offer fertility treatments. I called - guess what they said - it was a mandate. What? So they offer fertility but not maternity?

Assurant covers cleft palate in MD - when I asked they said it's a mandate. But so are 57 other mandates and they don't comply with most of them.

I'm open for any explanation.

However - Aetna did indeed increase the rates 90% over 2 years. They have all but erased my book of business - almost 95% of it I had to move to other carriers.