Friday, December 29th, the last business day of 2023, was a very good day to be an insurance agent. At least it was in my office.
I started the day with three important scheduled appointments, three disasters. One of the problems was caused, in part, by the client trying to fix things on his own. The other two were related to the failure of Ohio Medicaid to communicate effectively. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about children or senior citizens, sudden changes in your health coverage with little to no warning can be terribly disruptive. I needed to get everyone properly covered on the 29th or they would be stuck in limbo for all of January. Each of these appointments could have lasted for hours and similar cases had. But on Friday all three were successfully resolved by 1:30 in the afternoon.
Communication failures led to two more client contacts later that afternoon. In these cases I was able to reassure the clients that everything was fine. The client and/or their child have access to the doctors and facilities important to them. The clients might be able to talk to someone at the state, or the insurance company, but they can always get a response from their agent, me or any of my peers.
This blog has readers across the country. My peers, my friends who are agents, in Phoenix, Atlanta, or Portland (Maine and Oregon) encounter interesting and possibly even more complicated issues every day. This is the gig. Our job is to solve the problems of our clients – individuals, families, small and large businesses – as they attempt to acquire and maintain effective health insurance. The insurance companies may have call centers and someone will eventually answer the phone at the state’s office, but your insurance agent is the one you know you can call.
I am already booked for Washington DC for the end of February and I hope to be in Columbus a couple of times in 2024. There is a good chance I will see your agent in Washington and that he/she will also be spending time meeting with your state legislature this year. Let us know what is on your mind and how we can help.
Dave
Picture – Oh, And I got A New Car, Too – David L Cunix