Does The Right Thing

Benefit: You can be assured that you get what is best for you no matter what the impact on your broker’s pockets.

We have a non-profit client who is very bottom-line oriented while at the same time they struggle to provide an affordable yet comprehensive benefits package for their employees.

An opportunity to help them out presented itself to us last year.

At the time, Blue Cross was preparing to roll out a new product January 1^st while also preparing to change some standard features on all of their deductible type products.  After reviewing the product features, favorable pricing and the potential avoidance of a short-year deductible, we determined that it was in the best interest of the client to consider an off-cycle change.

Now perhaps the easiest route to have taken would have been to do nothing and simply wait until their August anniversary.  In fact, that’s exactly what the Blue Cross representative told us that the overwhelming majority of brokers were doing – nothing at all.

Because January renewals represent the heaviest renewal cycle in the industry coupled with the numerous personal tasks and obligations associated with the holiday season, we weren’t looking to move an August renewal into that busy cycle.  Add to the mix that the commission structure for this particular plan would result in a 25% reduction in commissions should the group opt for this plan.  Our point being that there was absolutely no incentive for us to pursue this avenue with the group.

In the end, at our prompting and after being presented with all the options and given the choice, the client did decide to move forward to take advantage of this opportunity.

So what did this decision mean to the client?

• A savings in fixed premium dollars over the next 7 months (January through July)
• An additional 5 months of guaranteed rates (August through December)
• A reduction in risk exposure (due to a lower deductible which the employer partially funds)
• Avoidance of a short plan year deductible

And what did their decision mean to Paradigm Benefits Group?

• A 25% reduction in annual commissions
• A very solid, long-term relationship!

This is testimonial to the fact that at Paradigm Benefits Group we work for the client, not for the commissions.