When you choose local everyone wins!

Elect Your Local Agent should be a slogan heard more often. Election day has passed and though we are still waiting for the final decision it has been stressful for everyone.

One thing that doesn’t have to be stressful is electing to choose a local insurance agent to help you enroll in your plans. As Mark Dupre points out in this educational video an agent looks out for you; his client first. When he decides who he is voting for during election time he also looks through the eyes of his clients and tries to decide which one will be better for them. In this video, Mark goes into more detail about the Affordable Care Act and how it impacted health insurance premiums. To learn more, check out the video here.

Experience Counts

Mark has been in the insurance business for 36 years with 26 of those years owning and operating the MLD Agency. In order to keep his state license, he must go through a vigorous 3-day in-person course, pass a state exam, and then continue his education with 4 hours of ethics each year, 24 hours of continued education every 2 years, and a number of additional recertification courses every single year. On top of the general recertification, he also must certify for each and every carrier he offers his clients. If you’ve seen the product list on our home page which only features about half, you will see he is certified in A LOT.  All of us agents working with Mark under the MLD umbrella also have to certify for the Marketplace, Senior care, and all of the other carriers so we can easily take care of you.

Now you might have seen ads from Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, and United Healthcare telling you to call them direct and enroll in a plan or have seen internet ads to go directly to the marketplace or call a 1-800 number for zero premiums and zero co-pays. While these are all legitimate and legal organizations, they are not focused on offering you the best plan for you but have only a select few to sell. If you go directly to the Marketplace at healthcare.gov a customer service agent cannot advise you on what plan to choose. All they are legally allowed to do is direct you on how to fill out the information and get quotes on the options available to you with any tax credits granted based on income.

Now you might be thinking to yourself that an agent is paid commission from carriers so why should you give them a commission on something you must buy anyways? Well, the truth is that the Marketplace tacks on 3% if you go through them which drives up the cost of premiums for the following year because they need to cover the 3%, they pay. If you go directly to the carrier, you may not be giving a commission to the customer service representative though they will want to sell you the plan they are told to sell most of and are limited to 3 or 4 plans their carrier offers. An agent is certified to sell everything from AARP to Blue Cross Blue Shield so they can check rates, networks, drug cards, and premiums across all so you get the most customized options at a price you can afford.

Client Case Study

Let’s discuss a case study in which a client at the MLD Agency could have saved more had she gone directly to her local agent instead of calling a 1-800 number she saw on TV. This client called and signed up with the carrier she saw on TV directly which had a $500 per month Rx out of pocket with a $6k deductible. Yes, you read that right, A $6K DEDUCTIBLE! When she finally came to me because she was paying pretty much 100% of the cost of her medications, I was able to explain that for only $75 more a month all of her prescriptions would be covered for only $30. The thing is we don’t know what we don’t know, and this is of no fault to anyone. The carrier employees are doing what they believe is best for the client and the carriers are doing what they believe is best for the people interested in their product yet the independent agent is always doing what is best for the client because they are not loyal or tied to one specific brand.

Your local agent is also a small business owner and supports the local community. So support local and support your local insurance agent. If you have questions always feel free to contact us at the MLD (630) 845-8678.