By
Minneapolis
Some of the producers who traveled here for the National Association of Health Underwriters annual convention complained bitterly about insurers' lack of interest in small employers.
"If we don't serve those clients, the federal government is standing in the [wings], waiting to come and fill that void," warned Michael Matznick, NAHU's outgoing president.
But Matznick and other speakers said carriers are cold to small employers partly because federal and state efforts to reform the small group market have backfired.
"We need to address the real issue," said John Nelson, a past president of NAHU's California chapter. Carriers "aren't making money with small groups."
Meanwhile, many NAHU members continue to earn a good living.
Health insurance agents who have solid agencies can still sell the agencies for about 120% to 150% of revenue, according to Dwight Mazzone, chair of HUPAC, NAHU's political action committee.
Mazzone said he recently received offers from four potential buyers when he sold an agency of his own in Tempe, Ariz.
NAHU lobbyists in Minneapolis were busy working the phones to keep the Senate from passing a version of a managed care bill that could, according to NAHU lobbyists, turn sponsors of employee health plans into easy targets for liability lawsuits.
The Senate was working to amend the bill to reduce employers' exposure, but NAHU staffers said the remaining provisions would still increase health coverage costs by exposing managed care companies and health insurance agents to lawsuits.
Meanwhile, in some states, a combination of state laws, state regulations and the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 limits insurers' ability to charge high enough rates to earn a profit on insuring employee groups with two to 50 covered members.
Groups with 25 or more lives are often profitable, but "micro groups" with a handful of members often have high claims rates, NAHU members said.
In some cases, members reported, agents try to defraud carriers by packaging uninsurable individuals in micro groups.
Agents have been debating on NAHU's message boards about whether NAHU should fight carriers that violate the small group rules, or whether NAHU should stay quiet to avoid scaring more carriers out of the small group market, Nelson said.
