The LifeSaver Lady
Ah - the life of a Health Insurance Agent...
1099 Self Employed Freelancer.
Be my own boss.
The Freedom.
The money.
I must be raking in the dough, right?
WRONG.
100% of the insurance industry is Risk Management - a gamble, depending on what side of the table you're sitting. The insurance companies are betting that you will stay healthy & will have very few claims.
Fewer claims equals less money they have to pay out.
You, the collective you are "what iffing" yourself to death thinking "What if... " "What if I get sick?" "What if I get hurt?" "Who's going to pay my doctor bills, my hospital bill, buy my prescriptions?"
For me as an Agent, I am also managing the risk of covering you, the collective you just to do my job, all the while nobody is covering me.
Why would you care about my personal story as a Health Insurance Agent?
What does that mean to you?
It means that I am lumped in to the group of millions of Americans who are not W-2. We are 1099 "Self Employed." As such, we are not offered Employer-Sponsored Health Plans for our own coverage. We depend on Obamacare like so many other millions of Americans.
You would think that by working for the insurance companies I would be covered to the teeth in a Cadillac Plan covering Major Medical, free or reduced rate-premiums, low or no deductibles & Co-Pays, prescriptions, Vision, Dental - the whole 9 yards - but you would be wrong.
There is a sum-total of one Insurance Company that I am hired on a W-2 basis & I would give my right eye to get a full time permanent gig with. I am brought on as extra help during Open Enrollment from October through January sometimes March during peak enrollment season, which means that I live by feast or famine like so many of my Insurance Industry colleagues.
Long story long, I have both a personal & professional interest in what happens in the American Healthcare system & SPECIFICALLY #OBAMACARE.
So how did I become "The LifeSaver Lady?"
That part is easy: to put my clients at ease.
What we do is a thankless job. When I am on location on an assignment I AM the face of the Insurance Company. My clients have no idea that I am a Freelancer. All they know is that a representative from the Insurance Company is there.
It's like facing a LYNCH MOB just to do my job.
I can walk into a room to one-on-one benefit counseling sessions for a company with a staff of 300+ employees & before I can even say "Hi! I'm Lisa. I'm here to take CARE OF your coverage needs, to a person each & everyone one of them has the attitude
"There's THAT INSURANCE LADY - & it's a GIRL! Get her."
So I became the "LifeSaver Lady."
By far the smallest & best investment I've ever made in my career is the wholesale store ginormous-sized bag of individually wrapped LifeSaver Breath Mints.
Prior to the start of my Enrollment sessions, I have my set-up to do:
Computer - check
Power & extension cords - check
Personal WIFI for Internet connection - check
Benefits Booklets - check
And my MOST IMPORTANT TOOL OF ALL: bag of LifeSaver Breath Mints - check, check & double check
I plop my bag of LifeSavers very prominently on the table & offer one to each person I sit with, beginning with the handshake. Now the conversation sounds like this:
"Hi! I'm Lisa. I'm with so & so Insurance Company & I'm here to TAKE CARE OF YOU today." Then I make some sort of joke about my cigarettes: "You're gonna need to forgive my smoke, in fact I need a breath mint. Would you like one too?"
This gets 100% of my people laughing WITH ME - it puts them at ease. Now if someone gets that proverbial squeaky chair, they aren't desperately trying to duplicate the noise so I don't think they just farted.
It really has gotten to that point in American Society & people bring their personal baggage with them into meetings with people they've just met, so I arm myself with Breath Mints & get them to LIKE AND TRUST ME.
Will you join me in a LifeSaver?
