How to Sell Obamacare Insurance?
We explain it in 4 steps.
Learn how to sell Obamacare health insurance? 4 steps to get there.
How to become an insurance professional and sell health plans (Obamacare) subsidized by the federal government?
Before starting our article, we must define that it is incorrect to say “Obamacare insurance” since Obamacare is not an insurance type. What happens is that it is easier for everyone since it is the most popular label.
Obamacare is not insurance; it is an option set forth in the Affordable Care Act that subsidizes the health plan the customers wish to purchase.
The health insurance plans out there are the same plans from the different insurers you have always known.
If you’ve heard of insurance company names like Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Cigna, Coventry One, Molina Healthcare, Humana, Ambetter, etc., these are the same ones that have been around for dozens of years, as many of them have been around for a long time.
What is new and what has been very popular is to buy one of these health plans and not have to pay the $300, $400 or $500 that you used to pay for an insurance policy and that is where -through an application with the federal government- you can get a subsidy and pay only for health plan fees as low as $50 a month and in other cases nothing.
This subsidy, you may have already noticed, is closely related to the tax return, the taxes for each year.
4 Steps to Start Selling
How to inform about and sell health insurance and federally subsidized health plans?
1st step: Become a certified insurance agent: to become an insurance agent you must first pass a pre-licensing course at an insurance school certified by your state. In this case, we have our own approved insurance school in the State of Florida. This step is not optional, it is mandatory.
The states understand that a course of this type would allow you to learn about the industry and the different terminologies that will enable you to successfully perform your job as an insurance agent. Therefore, the school must have a license for this, as well as the different other courses offered.
In this case, the 215 License (life, health and annuity insurance) is not necessary to sell Obamacare, you can only examine the 240 License, which is health insurance. However, it is a pity that you make the effort to pass the pre-licensing course and then examine only the 240 health insurance.
We tell you this because the pre-licensing course is very complete, i.e. the 215 life, health and annuity insurance license is geared to all 3 licenses anyway, but it is up to you to determine what you want to test later with the state.
This means, once you finish the pre-licensing course, if you decided to test only the 240 health insurance, you cannot test the 215 afterwards. You will have to take the pre-licensing course again when you can test all of them at once and use the same course.
Once you have completed the school and the 60-hour 215 pre-licensing course, you can take the exam with the state. As part of the examination process, you must be fingerprinted and determined to be morally eligible to become an insurance agent.
Of course, all of this happens if you fill in other variables like the established requirements, have a social security number, are over 18 years of age, have at least a work permit and reside in the state.
Therefore, by obtaining your license as a health insurance, life insurance and annuity agent (License 215) you are not only certified to sell Obamacare, but all other health insurance offered by those insurers mentioned above.
Many of them do not necessarily offer their health plans through the insurance marketplace, which is where the customer usually applies and purchases Obamacare, in this case through an insurance agent.
In addition, the license also includes you being able to sell life insurance for example and Medicare plans, although this may be content for another article. The main point is that you will be prepared to offer several products that are in demand and that can enable you to take a qualitative leap in your income level.
Congratulations! You are already licensed as a health insurance, life insurance and annuity agent (License 215), but unfortunately you still can’t sell Obamacare insurance. Read on, don’t be discouraged, it’s not hard…
Step 2: Get approval from the insurance companies: Yes, it’s true that you have made a great effort and have managed to get your license as an insurance agent. Nevertheless, after finishing your exam, you are still not ready. The insurance companies now have to give their approval for the products you are going to offer (health insurance, life insurance), the so-called “appointments”.
However, it is relatively easy. You can do it yourself by contacting each of the insurance companies, although there are some that do not allow you to do so, others do. But the fastest and most effective way is to join an already constituted insurance agency, since they have the approval (appointments) of these insurers and just by filling out several contracts you will be admitted in each one of them.
3rd step: Obtain your national producer number: you already have your insurance license, you are a certified agent, you are already admitted in the different insurance companies, but there are two important steps to get to sell Obamacare insurance.
One of them is to obtain your national producer number or npn, which is unique and important to identify you when selling health insurance. It is not difficult, it is just a procedure and the fact that you are in an insurance agency makes it possible for them to help you in this process.
Step 4: Take the exam and get certified in order to be able to sell: Another exam! Haha. Yes, another exam. You are already a certified insurance agent, you are admitted by the health insurers, you have your national producer number, but the federal government needs to know if you really know the Health Care Law and if you can be prepared to sell Obamacare insurance.
Advantages of Obamacare
This is another advantage of being represented by an agency, because the agency can help you through the process and work with you to open your account on the official cms website and take the exam.
Everything is done via the internet. You don’t have to move anywhere and from the comfort of your computer you can achieve the goal of being an insurance agent not only licensed; but certified to sell federally subsidized health plans, better known as Obamacare.
You see, it’s not hard! If you put your mind to it, you can go all the way. You could be in the presence of one of the highest paying professions in the United States and – the most interesting thing about it – is that every year you can “get” the best federally subsidized health plan for your clients.
After this process, you just need to know how to proceed with the applications, what the insurance market is like and train yourself in each of the procedures that you would have to use with each client and successfully complete their application for Obamacare.
In this case, being represented by an insurance agency is also the right way to receive all the help you need to be a successful insurance agent.
