00:24 — Introductions

01:05 — Allied National Overview

04:59 — New MEC Enhanced Options

10:08 — Cost Saver Bronze Minimum Value Plan

16:56 — Freedom Hybrid

23:10 — What’s New

30:37 — Why Allied National?

Jason Powers:

It is time for another carrier product update. Tune in as we talk directly to the carriers about their new plans, any new network options they have, or which plan designs offer the most savings and learn about the tools and resources they offer to help you generate more business. Visit our website to learn about all of the carriers we quote in our carrier product update series.

Hello and welcome back to our carrier product update series. This is a very special edition. [00:00:30] This is our Q four kickoff summit. My name is Jason Powers with Legacy Brokers and I’m joined by the consummate professional, Randy Winter of Allied National. Welcome back Randy. It’s

Randy Wehner :

Great to be here. Jason, thank you so very, very much. We’re humbled to be invited and anxious to start talking about Allied National with you. So thank you sir.

Jason Powers:

We love Allied National. You’re a great partner of ours. I joke that the beauty of having Allied National is a partner here in Kansas City is if I ever need [00:01:00] anything I can just drive over to your office.

Randy Wehner :

Very close. We are right here in Oldland Park, Kansas and we’ve been in business for over 50 years. We just celebrated 50 years last year, so congratulations. That’s the way a lot to be celebrating, that’s for sure. We are A T P A, we’re third party administrator and we’re owned by 90 degree benefits, which is a partner that’s owned under Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama. So we’ve become an even larger company because of that, but we’re still just located here in Overland Park, Kansas. Have about 125 employees and [00:01:30] we really are a unique third party administrator at Jason. The fact that we do our own medical underwriting, we have our own medical and earning staff, so we don’t have them spread about the country. We have them in our office there. We also do our own marketing of our group product as well here in Oland Park as well too at our office, at our home office.

Our executive team is there as well. And of course we pay claims. In fact, I always like that. One of our owner partners said this, when I first came to work for Allied, he said, Randy, we exist to pay claims. I thought, okay, that’s [00:02:00] the place to remember to be humbled. That’s why we exist. We’re providing group health plans and we’re there to pay claims. It’s simple and it’s something that our company has prided itself on doing for many, many years. So we do all that all under one roof. And so in a way, Jason, we kind of talk act and we kind of squawk like an actual insurance company here, but we partner with two very good, actually three very good insurance carriers. We partner ourselves with Fidelity Security Life, so they’re on the front of all of [00:02:30] our group level funded products. So we offer small group to medium-sized group health plans, even over a hundred lives.

So we can be considered even on some cases larger size groups for that matter. But we partner with a carrier, fidelity Security Life, which is also here in our own backyard here in Kansas City as well. And we also have two small reinsurers that are with us. I’m being facetious, they’re quite large Swiss. I have a partnership with them and also with Access Capital. So we’ve got really great companies that in a way we [00:03:00] have the key, we have the pen for writing the checks on behalf of them. And so we have that autonomy and that strong partnership with those carriers. And again, we’ve been doing this for a long time. We do know small group and we do know underwriting and we work hard to pride ourselves to provide really small to medium sized and large group products of to fit really any type of a budget that the employer has. And that’s what I get all jazzed up about every day working for Ally, that we’ve got an opportunity here to provide a valuable [00:03:30] product that’s going to fit a budget that an employer has to provide quality group health insurance coverage. Yeah.

Jason Powers:

And with that, the power of that pen comes great responsibility. You have

Randy Wehner :

Said that

Jason Powers:

Very correctly. That’s exactly right. I will say that in my experience with Allied over the story of my career, allied has always taken the power of that pen and the responsibility very seriously. And you are a very responsible [00:04:00] underwriter of health plans in the market

Randy Wehner :

In a way. We have two clients. We’ve got not only the agents that sell our products as well as our client as well, but so is the stop-loss carrier. We have to really have them as a customer. So we balance the two. Sometimes it’s a delicate balance, but it’s a balance and to make everyone happy. And again, our ownership, a credit to our ownership. It’s been a family run business right up until we’ve recently purchased by 90 degree benefits, but the family [00:04:30] that runs this company has done so in a way that’s solid footing and solid ground who really have invested their time and money into growing the company that Allied has become today.

Jason Powers:

Yeah, that’s something to be proud of for sure.

Randy Wehner :

It really is indeed. So thank you.

Jason Powers:

All right. Well, so now a little bit more about Allied as a T P A and as a carrier in the marketplace, if you will. Let’s get into some updates. We’ve got some new stuff coming in 2024. Sure.

Randy Wehner :

Yeah. Thank you so much for that, Jason. So really [00:05:00] we have, based on some feedback, Jason, we’re always listening to what our agents say, we need this, we need that. We write it down and we talk about it in the meetings and such. And we really work hard to try to implement their ideas. And so really a lot of our group products have been implemented through the ideas of agents. And this new screen that you’re looking at right here on our expanded plan options is with some strong feedback from some agents, Hey, how could you make these mec, these minimum essential coverage plans [00:05:30] more effective? Can you add and add some additional features to it to help keep the pricing down, to help both for the applicable large employer and even for those that are under 50 lives that are looking for some options just to offer some minimum essential coverage.

So on your screen you’ll see there we’ve got the MEC product we call, we used to call it the P MEC for preventative mec. So Jason, it’s going to help protect the group for anything that needs to be as far as a preventative service. We’re just following the task force, the Preventative task [00:06:00] force group who put out, once the Affordable Care Act got started, all that listing of anything that’s considered by gender and age that the government says are preventative care services, then this plan is going to protect that member, that employee, and getting all the preventative services paid at a hundred percent and the employer pays for it. It’s a real low monthly rate right now it’s at $42 a month per member per head. I think it’s among the lowest in the marketplace. I’ve learned never to say it’s the lowest out there, but

Jason Powers:

It’s pretty low. It’s

Randy Wehner :

Pretty [00:06:30] low to have that. So it really helps provide a great solution to that employer that doesn’t have the money to offer the full coverage all the time. That just becomes a minimum essential coverage preventive care. So that’s still in place and that’s available, but now we’ve expanded to a MEC plus. So Jason, you’re the first group we’ve talked to about this product. So we’re introducing this fresh on the marketplace. Look at that. That’s how much you rate. Love it. So we wanted to start with you

Jason Powers:

Breaking news right here

Randy Wehner :

Out of Legacy News is exactly right. Exactly. [00:07:00] So our latest feature will be, and you’ll see it on your screen just a little bit, we’re just going to talk about here are MEC plus. This is where we’re going to have the same features that the MEC that you see up above there has the preventive services. But we’re going to add one primary office visit at no additional cost. So a member can have at least one visit and they can also with that, they’d have a discount RX card as well. Pretty nice for that employer that’s looking just for [00:07:30] a little bit more bang for the preventative only services and really for little money for that part as well. So we’re going to have this product and I’ll talk about the advantage in just a moment. We’ll start quoting this on October 1st, and it will be available to be written on November 1st.

Jason Powers:

You heard it here

Randy Wehner :

First. There it is. That’s exactly right. So next from the MEC plus, we’re going to have also this MEC advantage and we’ll have some more materials that’ll come out as well to talk about this. But we just wanted to kind of scratch the surface with you a little bit here as well. [00:08:00] The MEC Advantage product is going to be an enhanced feature. You’ll probably see a flyer, I’ve got it right here. I’m cheating here. I’ll just going to show you

Jason Powers:

What and we’ll have that posted below this video posted on our website. You’ll be able to download those marketing flyers.

Randy Wehner :

There you go. So the MEC advantage is still going to have three primary office visits, so you’ll get that as well too. And again, all these are no medical underwriting, so it’s a spreadsheet enrollment that makes it real easy for you as the agent to market this to your group. Simplicity of getting them enrolled, [00:08:30] still have to have an employer statement filled out, obviously, but that’s real simple to get. So no medical underwriting. So even the MEC advantage will have that feature, but it’ll have a $10 copay for generic drugs. That’s very nice to have that as well. Three primary visits to your care provider with a $20 copay. That’s a new feature too. Three specialist or urgent care visits as well. So it seems like somebody always winds up using an urgent care center. I always think, well, I’m never going to do that, and all of a sudden I’m using an urgent care center.

It’s nice to have [00:09:00] access to it. And this plan, this MEC Avan will give that opportunity as well. It’ll also have five lab and X-ray services as well. The $50 copay and one diagnostic testing such as a CAT scan for example. We’ll be included in that. Wow. I call this, I go to a church. Our pastor always says this is a wow, wow, wow Feature. Wow. Yeah, that’s what this is, a triple wow. Wow, wow. On the Meck Advantage plant. So you will see the flyer that Jason will post out here pretty soon as well too. We’re excited about [00:09:30] this. And the fact that it offers you as an agent, another set of products to help that employer with the needs that they have. And there’s the mec, there’s the MEC plus and the MEC advantage.

Jason Powers:

The only thing that’s really missing as opposed to maybe a comprehensive structure from those three steps would be hospital benefit, the inpatient hospital benefit, but that is in the cost saver product.

Randy Wehner :

That’s that I really likes. We’re going to talk about that in just a

Jason Powers:

Minute. Little

Randy Wehner :

Preview of [00:10:00] That’s right. A little teaser. The for exactly. So. Alright, so let’s talk about that. This is our next piece that we have coming up as well. So we’re going to talk about the cost saver, Jason. The cost saver has been a product that Allied has had for about almost 18 years, believe it or not. When I first started with Allied, I was talking to agents throughout the country getting them interested in talking about Allied. And their feedback at that time was, we need a product that’s going to be 50% less than what the standard major medical plan is going to be because [00:10:30] we have groups that are already saying we can’t afford the major medical plans, we need relief. What can we do to salvage our group to offer a quality plan that’s going to be sufficient for them? So that gave us birth to the idea of the cost saver, which is now incorporating all the preventative minimum essential coverage that we just talked about moments ago.

But then it’s also got another feature which is actually kind of an oxymoron where we call a limited benefit plan, but unlimited benefits for your physician and outpatient charges. [00:11:00] So that’s a really unique piece and that’s where a lot of first dollar coverage really tends to be when a member starts utilizing healthcare service, they want to be able to have a doctor’s office visit, they want to be able to use urgent care center, you want to use even the telehealth services part. This all comes on the cost saver and this is also non-medically underwritten as well. So all we would need is a spreadsheet enrollment, so simplicity there as well. And then last year we introduced this, so I’m kind of talking about it again, what you’re seeing on your screen, the [00:11:30] cost saver bronze plan. So there are actually three plan designs of the cost saver plan.

Ones are most economical plan two and then plan three, which is actually now meets both minimum sensible coverage and minimum value as well. So this becomes a product when you’re talking to your employer, maybe the employer says, I need some relief. I need something that’s still going to provide valuable coverage. What have you got? This would be another great product to show the bronze minimum value plan from Allied National to cost [00:12:00] savers. So maybe Jason, you’ve got a group as an agent, the agent says, I’ve got a class that’s been left out, maybe hourly wage earners have been left out. I’ve never been able to been able to find something affordable to put them in. You could do a class carve out with this cost saver. You could put ’em on not only our meth product, but you could put ’em on the cost saver this bronze product as well too.

Or if it’s not just a class, maybe the employer’s saying to you, I need relief. I need 50% less cost. What can you do for me? [00:12:30] Again, Allied’s got a product for nearly every type of budget that an employer might have or maybe it’s renewal time and you’re talking and that employer says, Hey, I cannot afford these adjustments. What else is out there that I can get my hands onto? The cost saver could be a great option for that. So again, unlimited benefits for what we refer to as the outpatient physician charges and then fixed indemnity for your facilities. So it does have a P P O network. You can either choose first health or you [00:13:00] can choose P H C S as the network on this as well. And that’s going to work with your copays and such for the outpatient physician charges. Then fixed indemnity for all your facilities.

So the member will be reimbursed for that. But the neat thing is with the PPOs that are on the plan, you still get the discounts for all the facility charges. So that really makes it a tremendous option to show to a client. I know about you Jason, but it’s nice when you’re coming to meet with a client that you look for something new, [00:13:30] something fresh, an idea, a concept. So many employers are saying, I want a new idea. What’s out there that I can get my hands on that’s going to reduce my cost and still provide quality products. Wow, allied has it covered with these products we’ve just been talking about so far. The cost aver can be a great way to go with that. Does that make sense?

Jason Powers:

Yeah. You mentioned that this is a product that’s been around for the last 18 years and I think, I don’t know if there’s any truth to it, but in another life, I think I was the first [00:14:00] one, first cost aver say, oh Jason,

Randy Wehner :

If you were not, you were right after the top three. Close top three. I’d have say

Jason Powers:

Exactly. If Gary was here, I think I’d just brag that I was the first one. It’s true, true, but it’s a product that has always had a specific place in the market and it does have a place, I think that this is a product that agents can have in their arsenal take into accounts that are struggling like you said, with finding a [00:14:30] lower cost alternative that does meet the minimum value stipulation and cost saver. The last iteration before this one didn’t have that minimum value stamp, if you will. And by adding that M V P actuarial value to that product just really puts it in the discussion with a lot of the other solutions that we see out there.

Randy Wehner :

I had an agent that had an employer on a conference call and they had the cost saver for a year and the employer said [00:15:00] to the broker initially, my people won’t ever use the health coverage. We’ve never offered it before and nobody’s hardly going to use this, but I still feel like I want to offer it to my employees. What a

Jason Powers:

Perfect candidate. Yeah.

Randy Wehner :

A year later he says, wow, I can’t believe how my employees use this coverage and how happy they are to have it. And so I thought Exactly right. It’s a testimony right there to what this cost ever can do to truly help an employer and their employees have health coverage. Even restaurants [00:15:30] are very good. I think that might’ve been what you had when you first

Jason Powers:

Had that. It was was a restaurant. It

Randy Wehner :

Was a restaurant, lawn and garden and small businesses, plumbers, heating, air conditioning, H V A C type operations, all very good candidates for the cost centers.

Jason Powers:

Absolutely, absolutely. And you mentioned it, there’s no medical underwriting. It is census enrollment. One thing I think for brokers to understand that the rates are sensitive to the census changes. So you really got to make sure that you have a proper [00:16:00] census to rate the group because it is going to be composite rated. This is not an age rated product. You’re going to get that four tiered composite rate structure, but it’s a really simple plan to install, really simple to explain. There’s that outpatient benefit being unlimited and might I add really low deductible in that outpatient benefit? I mean two 50, the deductible deductible. I don’t know of another plan on [00:16:30] the market right now that’s being sold in that space with a $250 deductible. So again, it’s a product that deserves to be in that discussion and when it’s in that discussion, it rises to the top. Very

Randy Wehner :

True. Thank you for saying it. Thank you. Thank you for that. So make sure you talk to Legacy about getting quotes with the cost saver. So

Jason Powers:

Absolutely glad you

Randy Wehner :

Did.

Jason Powers:

Alright. A lot of happy brokers on that using that product.

Randy Wehner :

Alright, so our next piece just going to highlight a little bit is our Freedom Hybrid [00:17:00] product. So Jason, I was talking to another general agency, another part of the country and he was having great success.

Jason Powers:

You’re not allowed to talk to

Randy Wehner :

Other general I know, I know

Jason Powers:

Only. No,

Randy Wehner :

I’m kidding. Kidding. That’s pretty true. I’m kidding. But again, you got the introductory met

Jason Powers:

Here.

Randy Wehner :

Nobody else. Everybody

Jason Powers:

Else is the last

Randy Wehner :

Place we got it first, but I like what he had to say. I’ll just share it as a brief testimony here in that this Freedom Hybrid product, which is where we blend the both worlds. It’s a full group major medical plan available starting at two lives as everything with allies starts [00:17:30] at two lives going on up from that. But where we offer a physicians only P P O network and for those occasional opportunities where a member shows their ID card and the office wants to dig their heels in a little bit and say, we’re not going to accept this because it’s not a P P O. This offers you a P P O physician on network. Either you have a choice a prime, which is a P P O network as well for physicians only or First Health is available as well too. So these are opportunities that you can have where you can offer that feature and [00:18:00] especially for a group Jason.

And that’s what this general agent had said to us. He said to move from the fully insured market to come into level funding such as what we’re offering as level funded plan, that this becomes a nice step to help transition employer that’s leaving the fully insured P P O world where they still have access to a P P O network for the physicians only piece. Then the facilities is then paid at reference-based pricing, which we have a great track record of working. I kind of talked about something else that’s [00:18:30] going to be new that you’ll be the first to be announced on that here in just a moment as well too. So it becomes a stair step for that employer group to move out of the fully insured world into level funding and have a best of both worlds with the physicians only network, which we call the Freedom Hybrid plan.

Jason Powers:

Sure. So then in that hybrid space, the physician services or P P O, the inpatient facility services are still R B P? That’s correct. Is the outpatient facility R B P as well or [00:19:00] is it just physician services? It’s just

Randy Wehner :

Physician. Just physician.

Jason Powers:

So then inpatient and outpatient, I should clarify. So the facility services, right,

Randy Wehner :

The facilities

Jason Powers:

That’s right inside a building.

Randy Wehner :

That’s right. That’s right.

Jason Powers:

Where the charges are originating from the facility are repriced at a percentage of Medicare allowable. But the day-to-day outpatient services with a physician are repriced at a P P O level. So they’re in contract.

Randy Wehner :

That’s correct. [00:19:30] So even if a office were to say that they wanted more money than what we were offering, we’ll negotiate with them on the spot and come up with an agreement, we’ll enter that in our system and we’ll go forward with that as well too. So that makes it a little simpler too. Sure.

Jason Powers:

That’s great. Good

Randy Wehner :

Deal. So the Freedom Hybrid is a nice stepping stone from P P O again to reference-based pricing. And then also, I don’t want to undercut here this opportunity about pivot plans as well. I know you get involved with selling individual plans as well. So Pivot [00:20:00] is a nationwide marker that Allied has partnered with now for, I want to say probably the last 10 years, close to 10 years that we’ve been working with them, where Pivot has been marketing short-term medical plans and this market, even though there’s some things going on in Washington, no one’s trying to hide the fact that the government’s trying to cut down on the timeframe of these durations of short-term medical. It remains to be seen if that actually will pass or not. We’ll see what happens, but there still will be short-term medical products available and this plan, [00:20:30] that set of plans that Pivot offers can really be another revenue stream for your agents to increase their income.

No one’s going to say you’re going to be wealthy over it, but boy, you could sell enough of these where you could make a nice car payment on that Lexus or that Jaguar, whatever it might be that you have as a car, but it would be a nice revenue stream that where with Pivot, it’s an online link that you provide to, you can provide this to your client. It’s very intuitive. [00:21:00] They can figure their own quotes just right on the spot if they need something for one month or up to six months in some states, some areas, until the government makes any changes, you can write them up to 364 days in a term period. So very, very attractive just by state, by state area. And it is amazing the amount of people that are in need of short-term medical. Think for example, you sign somebody up on a group, but you’ve got a waiting period before an employee can get coverage.

You could put ’em on a short-term medical. The qualifications are about five or six yes or no [00:21:30] simplified medical questions that you have to answer. And also think of college students, for example, that need athletic coverage. This is really a signature of the pivot plan that it covers you. If you have a student that’s in college that’s playing sports that needs to have health insurance, this will protect you and give you insurance coverage while you’re playing those sports. Not too many of them out there are offered for that feature. So this one has that feature as well on it. But the idea of you as an agent putting this link [00:22:00] of a pivot plan on your email even you’d be amazed at how many times people see your signatures on your email to where somebody will see an advertisement for the pivot plan, oh gee, I think that I saw something on that. And all of a sudden they’re opening up the pivot plan and they’re working up a quote.

Jason Powers:

You heard it here with Randy, if you want a link to put in your signature of your email block or your

Randy Wehner :

Signature block, you can provide it to us. Yeah,

Jason Powers:

Let us know and we’ll get you a custom link.

Randy Wehner :

It is a nice product that fills a valuable need [00:22:30] right now, and I will tell you that Allied, the last I’d heard is the largest administrator of short-term medical in the United States. So that’s a real big product for us as well. And the underwriting is done on it once a claim is processed. So it’s just a simplified medical underwriting answer yes or no to it. You get a link, Jason, once you pay for it with a credit card, you get a link within seconds and you can set up your own password, password policies issued IDs issued all your search, everything at one quick spot. So yeah, it’s

Jason Powers:

Pretty turnkey.

Randy Wehner :

It’s [00:23:00] pretty turnkey. Exactly right. Love it. So pivot plans. Alright, love it. Are we okay on time here still so far, Jason, we

Jason Powers:

Are cruising along. All right,

Randy Wehner :

Good deal. So let’s talk a little bit about what’s new and what’s happening here beginning in fourth quarter. So we have really been working hard to develop some key pieces here, and this is one thing that you’ll be the first to hear this. So what we’re really doing here is we want to provide a tool, Jason, to the agents to where they can see if a facility hospital is [00:23:30] going to be accepting reference-based pricing. So we, we’ve listened to agent’s feedback for a long time. We need a source. We need a place where we can see if by any chance a hospital is going to accept reference-based pricing. So we’re going to have starting in October a tool where they can call into our client services team, our sales team as well, to where they will be able to see just through a phone call and we’ll be able to tell ’em, yes, this hospital is accepting reference-based pricing.

This one is on the fence right now. So we don’t know [00:24:00] if they’re actually accepting or not, but we again have the information of where they’re setting at this moment or they’re not accepting reference-based pricing. And with this type of a tool, we believe that you can have this in front of your client to have a conversation to decide in a consultation way, would it be best to have reference-based pricing or would it be best to offer a P P O network to be able to give an employer the solid choice and information upfront before they make a decision to know if these facilities are utilizing it. Well, again, this is the feedback [00:24:30] we’ve been hearing for a long time. We’re going to roll this out in October to have access to that and eventually Jason, the agents themselves will be able to sign into a website. This is the future to come here where they’ll be able to see on a geographic map the facilities are accepting and accepting.

Jason Powers:

That’s great. Really a big piece. Technology’s finally catching up with, or I should say the historical data is catching up with the technology. The technology’s always been there. It’s just really, really having the historical [00:25:00] knowledge of which providers are R B P friendly, which ones are maybe not accepting or a little tougher to negotiate with. So I think that’s going to change the way agents view R BP as an option out in the market for their clients. Certainly the cost, the bend of the cost curve is what will drive some of that conversation, but the backend administrative potential for noise has always been the barrier for agents to put it in front of their clients. So I think again, commending [00:25:30] allied for being an innovator in that to bring something a little different to the table for agents to go out and be a little more confident in putting that freedom proposal in front of their client.

Randy Wehner :

Yeah, it’s something that really you of agents have given us feedback and we have listened and we have really invested and put a lot of time and effort into creating this. It’s not an easy piece to a workup. We have a partner that’s helping us out as well to it, and this will be starting in the fourth quarter, so that’s great. Kick off, this is a new piece to talk about, so thrilled to introduce that to you as well

Jason Powers:

Too. [00:26:00] Great. What’s the no call rule? What’s

Randy Wehner :

Going on here? Actually Jason, you would probably like this as well. So we have also listened to where our traditional underwriting process, when you fill out applications, used to be our emotive operation, we would call a employee and verify a health issue or the telephone to learn more about the health issue. Now we’ve eliminated that rule because we really are gathering better information these days to where we don’t have to make a telephone call if by some chance the underwriter would like to make one [00:26:30] and offer a reason for that, they’ll discuss that with the agent and see if the agent’s okay with that. And if they are, then we’ll make that call. If they’re not, we won’t make that call. So that’s really nice. Now, we’ll still do a phone interview just briefly, maybe about a minute or two with the employer just to make sure we’ve got every employee accounted for on the group and we’re not missing everything on that. But no more calls to the employees to verify health issues. That was kind of a sore spot sometimes that agents would bring up. And again, we listen, [00:27:00] we really try to listen and try to see how can we implement that. So yes, it’s a big deal.

Jason Powers:

So for 12 plus we’re doing our general app where you’re taking that and going out and using AI underwriting to underwrite the case That’s correct. And then come back with an offer and then is it a knockout question? Is that what we do on the back end of that?

Randy Wehner :

Right. So really that’s the next point here for 12 plus. In fact, we used to start this at 20 lives and [00:27:30] how we are down to 12 lives, so keep that in mind. 12 lives are greater. We’re going to use a simplified underwriting model and we’re also going to use historical data that we get. Not only are we going to look at prescription history, but we’re also going to look at hospitalization history as well too. So we look at two fair areas and really by you providing a census to us, it’s a detailed census so to speak, where you’re going to give us the names of the dependents, we’re going to give us their birth dates as well too, along with the employees, and technically you can give [00:28:00] us that census and we’re going to give you a rate that you could take out to your client. We would like to also say we would really appreciate also having any additional data that we can get Amazon as well too. That might be the renewal. That might be the current rates that they’ve got. It might be what they’ve

Jason Powers:

Had, claims data,

Randy Wehner :

Claims data,

Jason Powers:

Whatever, any information that’ll help tell the story to underwriting so that Ally can put their best foot forward. Again, responsible being a responsible underwriter and making sure that the rates that are being proposed are [00:28:30] reasonable based on the risk, right?

Randy Wehner :

Again, we’re trying to provide Jason some easier ways and to streamline underwriting and to shorten the process for the agent to make it go better and smoother so you can get to your client with the rest. That’s our goal. We’re

Jason Powers:

Working. I know we appreciate just based on the kind of busy, busy schedule we all have this time of year, we appreciate the ease of access, but also appreciate the responsible approach that Allied takes.

Randy Wehner :

Well, good [00:29:00] deal. So keep in mind for that, for simplified underwriting and then of course, always remember that Allied is known again for innovative plan designs. You see how we introduce those MEC products. Again, those are some innovative ideas to help provide more solutions to the client and with budgetary thoughts as well. This can help an employer for, and

Jason Powers:

Again, at the end of the process with that simplified underwriting. There’s no phone calls, but there is one [00:29:30] application needed for each employee that is a general list of questions that they’re more knockout questions. They are. That’s exactly I would say something that we learned along the way and that we’ve communicated with agents is do yourself a favor on the front end when you’re presenting that is just kind of feel around for whether or not any of those knockout questions are prevalent in the case. Typically what we see is you’re not going to find, going to find most of that in your AI underwriting. Correct. With that knockout questionnaire [00:30:00] certainly is needed on the back end, just firm everything up and buying coverage.

Randy Wehner :

We would be doing a disservice if there was tragically something that was really going on in that group, maybe a transplant scenario or something, a real major consequence that wasn’t picked up and then coming back with the renewal. You see a

Jason Powers:

Yeah. Nobody to, nobody wants to do that slip one past the goalkeeper only to come back a year later and have to move the case. So I think again, it goes back to responsible underwriting, making sure that you’re making reasonable offers.

Randy Wehner :

We really [00:30:30] want to have a renewal that comes back to where we don’t give you a shock when that renewal comes about is we really work hard at that. So customized options.

Jason Powers:

Yeah. Wrap us up. Healthy,

Randy Wehner :

Fair, and faster underwriting is what we’re trying to do as well. Large customer service team, I’ll tell you, we still have what we call an elite client service team where if you get a balanced bill, which by the way, less than 2% of all of our claims end up in a balanced bill, even though you hear balanced bill stuff out there, we still have a small [00:31:00] percentage of

Jason Powers:

Nobody ever hears about the 98% of the good times. Right? True. It’s always the 2%. That’s right.

Randy Wehner :

But if they do have one, we’ve got an elite team, you can reach out to Allied National and we will be Johnny on the spot to help them with that balance bill and get it resolved and get it worked out so the member will not, due to our guaranteed balance bill, will not have to pay anything extra beyond what was already paid on the plant.

Jason Powers:

Sure. And then another differentiator, the final differentiator I think for Allied National versus some of [00:31:30] the other level funded products out there in that space is that you guys are doing 100% surplus return on any of the unused funds in that claims bucket. That’s right. We were talking about the buckets and the pots earlier. That’s in that claims bucket. A hundred percent of those refund or surplus dollars are then returned back to the employer

Randy Wehner :

Whether you renew or not,

Jason Powers:

Regardless of renewal,

Randy Wehner :

No strings attached.

Jason Powers:

No strings attached. That’s right. It’s a deal. You’re from Randy right here, so if it’s anything different, you go talk. No, I’m kidding. [00:32:00] No, we’ve experienced that with our agents that have allied clients that have surplus at the end of the year. It’s a really simple process. Your typical stop-loss contract is a 1221, so it’s important, I think to emphasize it’s after the runout period, which is that nine months, so even if they’ve moved on to another carrier at the end of that nine months, you do reconciliation, you return that a hundred percent. That’s right.

Randy Wehner :

No, they can use that to buy down future monthly payments if they’re still [00:32:30] with us and we hope they will. If they don’t, they can purchase additional maybe life insurance benefits, maybe dental insurance and what have you. As long as it’s a welfare benefit for the employees, they want to go out and buy a boat, they better figure out a way to benefit the

Jason Powers:

Employees. Got to give keys to all the employees. Right. You have to

Randy Wehner :

Do something.

Jason Powers:

Keys and life jackets. Oh my

Randy Wehner :

Goodness. There you go. There you go. Thank you so much for

Jason Powers:

Having me here today, Randy. Randy, it’s been a pleasure. Again, consummate professional. I always feel underdressed when I’m next to you. We [00:33:00] do appreciate you being on and sharing the information with our agents out in the market, and if you need help with an Allied National quote, whether it be on the group side, if you need a link to that pivot, short-term medical plan, reach out to our office. We are a contracted general agent with Allied National, which means we don’t cost you or your client any additional dollars. You just get the benefit of having an additional resource and additional team of professionals here at Legacy Brokers to help you place that business. We’ll have links down below [00:33:30] this web or this video on our website to downloadable marketing materials that you can use in your presentation with Allied National. There’s also a button down below on our website that gets you access to our quote team pretty fast and pretty good on the turnaround time, so be sure to reach out. We’ll help you with your Allied National quotes. Randy, thanks again so much for being pleasure of our Q4 kickoff. I’m honored to be here. Always fun to see you. Thank you, sir. And agents out in the market will see you around. Happy selling.

Randy Wehner :

Thank you so much.

Jason Powers:

[00:34:00] Thank you for watching this edition of our carrier product update series. Visit our website to watch other episodes.