Agents signed up 42% of new Covered California enrollees—but was it worth it?

Insurance agents were certainly productive during the second open enrollment season, but are less sure if their time was well spent.

Insurance News

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The second open enrollment season for Covered California didn’t quite meet analyst projections, insurance agents were just as busy helping Californians purchase insurance policies.

According to data released by the exchange site, agents helped enroll 43% of new customers during the 2015 season, far outstripping navigators—who enrolled 10% of consumers—and the 30% of people who enrolled themselves.

In fact, agents’ share of enrollments actually increased; during the inaugural open enrollment season, agents assisted 39% of enrollees in choosing and purchasing plans. The comparative increase defies some predictions that new navigators and online signups would cut away at the agent role.

Despite their success, many agents remain unhappy with the performance of Covered California and the increase to their bottom lines when compared against the time they invested in signups.

Sylvia Oliverez, an agent with Santa Clara-based Be Well Insurance Solutions, described this year’s open enrollment season as a “nightmare.”

“I felt like it was worse this year than last year,” said Oliverez, who spent a significant portion of her time helping clients enroll in Medi-Cal plans. “The communication is non-existent—Covered California is pointing the finger at Medi-Cal, Medi-Cal is point the finger at Covered California, and Medi-Cal won’t pick up their phone.”

Oliverez also spent a lot of time on the phone fielding calls from clients who were enrolled in the wrong plans and couldn’t get through to Covered California customer service. Additionally, payments for her efforts last year were late, and when received were “less than what as expected.”

With the dysfunction, she isn’t surprised the exchange didn’t reach its targeted enrollment figures.

Indeed, the exchange ended the enrollment season with 1.4 million customers—roughly 20% short of its goal of 1.7 million enrollees. Covered California also suffered a black eye when an estimated 100,000 enrollees were sent the incorrect tax forms, and many more have not received forms at all.

As the insurance professionals closest to affected customers, agents are dealing with a lot of the fallout.

“Everybody calls every day,” said Oliverez. “Covered California never got them into the system. Luckily, I made copies.”
 

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