Pros
Fabulous place to work if and only if you are new to the business of selling health and supplemental insurance. There is a great deal of freedom and resources aimed at getting one appointed with a good number of Carriers which gives your clients many choices. The quoting tool is by far the best I've seen in the business. It makes applying for Supplemental and Life Insurance super easy and streamlined. I've made several hundred thousand dollars while there but I could have made A LOT more if I knew how the system really worked
Cons
While it is a great company for a new agent, one should not plan on being there more than a year or so while you learn the ropes because of the unfair pay structure on commissions that you work really hard for. On health sales, there exists two sets of commissions: An ever diminishing commission (due to the volatility of the ACA). paid by the Carrier that goes to the agent (some states pay no commission to the agent at all) and an over ride that goes to the General Agent (Health Markets). The over ride that goes to Health Markets can sometimes be as much or more than the commission that is paid to the agent. In addition to Health Markets making more money off of your sale, they will also take a percentage of the commission that is paid to the agent. In short, the company got greedy and doesn't take care of their agents that are doing all the work, while Health Markets gets paid for essentially doing nothing other than holding mandatory, irritating meetings and demanding made up, unnecessary, time wasting online training that we've covered 1000x's before. There exists General Agents out there that will not only give their agents their full commissions but also give the agent a percentage of the over ride. A new agent usually doesn't know this. Unless you really can't wait to get your full commission on Supplemental and Life Sales, you should you should try to avoid accepting the company advances for Life and Supplemental Sales. Commissions are paid on a monthly basis throughout the course of a year. One is paid 1/12 of the commission every month the policy is in effect. Health Markets will pay up front, 7 months of that commission upon the approval of that policy. It's a trap and essentially makes you an indentured servant with you in the end, owing a lot of money to the company for business that has dropped off the books. The compensation system is purposely complex almost to the point that it can seem arbitrary, untimely and not understandable. Should you want to leave the company and you have a balance, you will be sued for that amount. Many agents will stick around longer than they want to, stop taking advances and continue working until they pay off the debt. There was a time when the Health Commissions were more equitable but those days are long gone with Carriers paying less and less every year. Aside from only getting paid a portion of what you sell, you are pretty much on your own. There aren't many bonuses to speak of or any other benefits such as dental or health. If there is, it wasn't worth it. Again, this was a while ago. They will also heavily push the stock as if that is such a wonderful benefit. Let than noise go in one ear and out the other. While not an MLM. (You won't earn money from the commission of people under you), there is a taste of an MLM because your boss, your boss's boss and then the company get a piece of your hard work. I would advise only using the lead system sporadically. The company keeps a portion of your commissions, something like 10%, (I can't remember exactly, it's been a while) they open an account and I think they match it. From there you can order very crappy leads from a variety of crooked vendors. These vendors are independent of Health Markets and the company makes no money from these leads. They also take money out of your commissions for your E and O insurance, which is fine. Side Note: There are other companies out there that will sell you their leads, these are leads that are usually generated by mailers. A mailer is sent out to potential clients at random based on various parameters and demos. The potential client returns the mailer and it is sold to the agent. The problem with that system is that the good leads are given to the top agents and if they are not closed, they will be re-sold to an unsuspecting rookie agent. Back to the Health Markets leads......The "exclusive" health leads are probably the best but that is all relative. Often times you will find that while they are more expensive, they are not "exclusive" at all but much better than the "shared" leads. Never ever order life leads. Those are a complete rip off. Often times you will call those leads and the potential client will have no idea what you are talking about and never put in a request for help in obtaining Life Insurance.
