00:24 — Introductions

02:19 — ATA Overview

05:26 — AI Underwriting vs ATA’s Underwriting

10:59 — The ATA Difference

16:07 — Remarketing – Helping Agents build a better Client relationship

19:56 — AmeriShare New Case Submission

22:56 — Big Tom Sportsman Showcase

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. It’s a very special edition of our carrier product [00:00:30] update. This is the Q four kickoff summit in 2023, also for Q 1 20 24. I’m Jason Powers and I’m joined today by Judd Spencer and Victoria Armstrong from American Trust Administrators. Judd is the Vice President of operations, and Victoria is the queen of the universe. I’m told

Victoria Armstrong:

Sales and marketing,

Jason Powers:

We’re going to go a queen of the universe. I love it. Love that title too. I love it. Victoria. We’ve known each other a long time. [00:01:00] I think I started working at a T A in 2000, started my career in the insurance industry with a t a. So it’s always had a very special place in my profession. I think back to, it was probably 2001, 2002. It’s been a long time. 2004 when you came up to the sales and marketing side. So definitely earned the Queen of the Universe title.

Victoria Armstrong:

I tried.

Jason Powers:

And Judd, you’re a new addition in the [00:01:30] last 18 months. Yes.

Judd Spencer:

Yep, exactly. Yep. Came over from the global t P A side into a smaller family run business. So was glad to be able to make the change, get back into the world of health insurance and join a great team at a T A. It’s not often you get an opportunity to walk into an organization that is well run, well maintained, and was ready for growth, [00:02:00] which so far we’ve been doing good our first year and now into our second year. We are definitely ahead of our projection. So can’t beat about that and excited to get into busy season.

Jason Powers:

Oh, I love it. And I mean agents out in the market that have talked to me, know my background with a t a, but there may be some agents out there that never heard of American Trust and certainly I don’t want to take away from the long history that is a dating back to 19 74, 19 72, [00:02:30] maybe 52 years. It’s been a, is it 52? Look at it. Queen of the universe

Judd Spencer:

Knows.

Jason Powers:

Just ask her. But there are agents out there who probably never seen a quote from a t a or they have, if you’ve quoted with us, you’ve seen it, but maybe not have the familiarity with American Trust. So what would you say is a T’S position in the market for a broker who’s out there looking?

Judd Spencer:

So a T A is strictly level funded [00:03:00] and we focus on the small, what I call small to medium size. But basically 99 lives to five lives is our wheelhouse with the level funded side. So pretty much right across all business sectors. And our product is pretty solid in reference to we have the ability to do PPOs, we have the ability to do RVPs, we’re doing direct contracts, have multiple different programs that we’re able to provide to these [00:03:30] employers on a level funded side. And I think the biggest thing that sets us apart within the marketplaces, we are 100% level funded. Meaning that if there are surpluses in the claims fund, that money goes back to the employer at the end of the contract year after RUNOUT is complete.

Jason Powers:

Yeah, no strings attached after runout, the employer gets the money back, no

Victoria Armstrong:

Additional fees to accomplish that. It’s always been

Jason Powers:

Like that. And it’s a check. It’s not credits toward an invoice. [00:04:00] I say cash surplus option, but it is a check that comes back. But that’s never, I mean you guys have never wavered on that. I like to tell brokers when I’m comparing other products to A T A A T A is the benchmark. I think the structure of the level funded pricing that a T A has in place for small groups is sort of the benchmark. I compare that to some of these others where they’re a little heavier on the fixed fixed cost [00:04:30] side, they don’t have as much in the surplus. They may tie it to a renewal. There may not be as big of a return on the surplus. A T A is one of those that I use as a benchmark, and that’s in that five to 99 space where there’s a lot of competition.

And I think a T A is a competitive option for brokers to show clients. If you’re not showing them a t a, you need to be looking at it. We are a contracted general agent for American Trust, which means that our [00:05:00] fees are already baked into the product. They don’t cost you or your client anything in addition to their normal premium. And you get 100% of the production credit and 100% of the producer comp and some of the exciting bonus programs that we’ll talk about. We’ll talk about that. Tom’s big showcase. The sportsman showcase. Sportsman. Sportsman showcase. Yeah, big, big showcase. The different show. So without further ado, let’s get into your presentation here.

Judd Spencer:

So one of the big things that has come about is [00:05:30] ai. I mean everybody’s talking about AI across the board and we’re now starting to see it in the underwriting aspect on the health insurance side. And a lot of it is happening in the larger group space, but we’re now starting to see it in the small group space. So one of the things I want to talk about is a little bit of the effects on that and why we don’t do it and for the human side with it. So one of the things that you find with what is AI itself, [00:06:00] and I’ll use golf analogies, I play golf, so I like golf analogies, but AI is basically a bunch of data that’s out there that’s been collected by healthcare organizations, hospitals, and it’s all been dumped into multiple different areas that they can do this.

And f y I normally always get the question, well, how did they get my information? Well, with the wonderful HIPAA sign-offs that you make at your providers, let’s just say that you’ve signed [00:06:30] away your ability and that data goes out there. So what these AI firms are doing is that then they can go out and collect this data on, or at least access it in reference to medical care that you’ve been receiving, RX prescriptions that you’ve had. They also collect consumer data when you sign up for that little shopping card or whatever at a grocery store at another [00:07:00] retail. They collect all that data too. And then they basically develop an avatar risk score on what they think that your health costs are going to be based on all that data. And I look at it in reference to one man, it’s a really wide avatar or basically error factor, I’d say it is.

It’s basically from playing golf out of bounds, left out of bounds, [00:07:30] somewhere in between there is where their risk score is. And I think what sets us apart is, is that yes, are we a little bit more work to work with at a T a, but instead of being out bounds to out bounds, we’re basically left side of the fairway. Right side of the fairway and we’re going to be in the fairway and we’re going to be somewhere in between there because with the additional underwriting work that we do and the data that we ask for in reference to the applications and the medical questionnaires, [00:08:00] that we are able to basically sharpen that pencil and give the best rate that you possibly can receive. And I think that that’s the biggest piece in reference to the AI model. And then there’s some hybrid models that are out there too in reference to that. They’ll do the initial AI underwriting, then they’ll ask some questions about it, but that still gets you left rough. Right? Right. Rough. It doesn’t get you into the fairway necessarily. So I think that that’s important when we talk about it with being in business [00:08:30] for 52 years to greatly appreciate the accolades, but of being the benchmark there that we’re confident in our product, we’re confident in our process so that we can save our member groups the best possible amount of money that we possibly can for them to get the best product.

Jason Powers:

Well, I always end up in the pond or the lake or the house across the street. I don’t the rough, I never find the rough. So not sure how I would fare in underwriting. [00:09:00] No, I like the analogy though. I think you’re right. I think there’s a gravitational pull towards easy. Don’t have to ask people a lot of questions. We can just go collect the data on the backend without asking them their permission to get the information. And certainly I think brokers like the ease of G R X curve, some of the systems [00:09:30] like Vera High, but the backside of it, I think I could tell you half a dozen cases over the last two weeks where the broker is coming back telling us, well, but they really shouldn’t be that high of a risk score because of this. Well, if we could just get apps, which is the alternative, right?

So ATA is apps form. You’re loaded on form, fire ease, all the major platforms that do data collection for [00:10:00] medical underwriting. We’re able to share those applications with your underwriting team. Your underwriting team comes back with a letter of whatever might be needed in order to firm up. Sometimes that’s just quarterly wage report, prior carrier bill and the actual application. But other times it might be telephone interviews with an individual who you might need some additional information on. Not to dig for more info, but really to clarify some questions that may not have been answered on their enrollment [00:10:30] form. Exactly,

Judd Spencer:

Exactly.

Jason Powers:

But from that point forward, I think it’s pretty streamlined and it makes it a firm rate that as a broker you can walk out, put that in front of your prospect or client and that it’s been priced accordingly based on the risk instead of a guesswork with a margin of error.

Judd Spencer:

Exactly. Well said. Well said.

Jason Powers:

Next slide there.

Judd Spencer:

So [00:11:00] the other piece comes with that is truly the trust that comes with it, that we know the numbers that we’re putting together, we stay behind. It’s your middle name. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So when we think about that, it’s within our processes that one, if we provide a rate, we state it, we stand behind it, it’s not going to be a oops and if or buts that we don’t operate that way because of the human factor, because we feel that that’s our biggest advantage. [00:11:30] Our underwriting and our people I think are our biggest advantage in the marketplace versus all of our competition products or products. The health insurance industry is, I don’t want to say it’s revolutionary because it always comes back around. Back when I first started in the industry, everybody was on an H M O and now we’ve gravitated to R B P, but now we’re starting to get back into the direct contracts, [00:12:00] which is more of an H M O model. So it’s not like cyclical. Yeah, exactly.

Jason Powers:

Cyclical. We’re just in that weird cycle where it’s coming back around.

Judd Spencer:

So with that, and it’s like, okay, knowing that these products are doing that and there’s going to be a change in the next two, three years, it’s going to continue to evolve and change. But one of the things that is not is our people, our culture and how we do business. And that’s one of the biggest things that it tout is [00:12:30] our biggest advantage in the industry is the people that sit behind the scenes of American trust administrators,

Jason Powers:

People like Tori, who are the queen of the universe.

Judd Spencer:

Exactly. She keeps us all in line.

Jason Powers:

She’s seen it all. She’s seen it all over the last 20 years. What’s funny, I remember we did a jingle, American Trust Administrators where trust is our middle name back way back like 2000 six-ish. Were you playing your guitar? I think I was playing [00:13:00] my guitar. Yeah.

Judd Spencer:

Remember I haven’t heard that

Jason Powers:

Weird history. It’s a weird history. Have to bring

Judd Spencer:

That back.

But it’s one of the other things too, just to bring up on the AI pieces is some of the downfall with it, the deep fakes that are out there. I mean, how many times have you seen of hey, this AI generated meme of whoever the celebrity is and it’s not the celebrity that it’s pieced together all that different data. And [00:13:30] as we rely more and more on this data with not having the double checks or the people basically verifying behind the scenes that problems can occur. So we’ve got to work through that piece of it. But I mean it’s inevitable. I mean AI’s coming, it’s going to get better. Me personally, I don’t think it’s there yet. If it was, we would probably be using it in some ways or fashion, but it’s coming [00:14:00] and I think that it will help the industry, but I think that the human factor is never going to leave this side in reference to the underwriting aspect of it. And well, and definitely customer service, that gets real frustrating when you can’t call and actually talk to somebody. Yeah,

Jason Powers:

I mean look, it’s not new. It’s been the AI underwriting component was introduced 10 years ago, but there were a lot of carriers I think on the front end of [00:14:30] that bus that took their licks. They relied on the integrity of AI to underwrite. It wasn’t what they thought. They took their licks, they came in and increased rate second, third year to try to adjust and build some data off of that. But to your point, I don’t think it’s there. I still don’t think it’s there. I think they’ve got some fine tuning to do. But [00:15:00] over time, I think pairing it with some of that human interaction, looking at fresh underwritten data, looking at fresh information straight from the applicant is always going to be really, it’s always going to be the number one method of underwriting. I’ll never change my mind. It all goes back to back when Bob and I were over at a t a. It all goes back to what underwriting really ingrained in our philosophy. [00:15:30] And that’s something that we’ve carried forward as a general agent. When we talk to brokers about when you’re doing an A quote or some of the other products out there that do require individual medical questionnaires, you’re going to get a sharper rate. Yep,

Judd Spencer:

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, and that leads us to what we will always be human at, and this is where the queen of the universe comes in play. So I’ll turn things over to Tori and let her talk about her side.

Jason Powers:

Yeah, we’re all anxious to hear from you. Oh,

Victoria Armstrong:

[00:16:00] Well

Jason Powers:

Your highness happy to talk.

Victoria Armstrong:

So one of the things that we’re doing in the marketing side of things is we want to help some of your producers maybe remarket to some former clients or even current clients, future clients, whatever that may be. And so we’re willing, if anybody’s interested, if they want to send you that you can forward on some form of a spreadsheet that lists out the client names with contact information, maybe 50 business [00:16:30] cards and some company letterhead at no cost to that producer. We’ll put everything together on our end and send it out. And our goal is just to get people a little bit more familiar with American Trust Administrators and at least try to see if they would be a good fit for our product. Ameri Shares level funded, we both underwrite and we are A T P A. So our goal is always to not only save the client money, but also to [00:17:00] help build on any relationship between the producer and their client.

Jason Powers:

Sure. So this is in the form of handwritten cards.

Victoria Armstrong:

Yes. Everything is more of a personalized touch that way it makes it more of a connection. So we will hand write everything.

Jason Powers:

I get handwritten cards every time we renew a case as a general agency, I get handwritten cards. I’m assuming, is Tom really writing all those out or is that you writing on behalf of Tom?

Victoria Armstrong:

A lot of us [00:17:30] write, but yes, everybody

Jason Powers:

Judge, write your

Judd Spencer:

Name on the dotted line.

Jason Powers:

I got to tell you, I open those up. I read every one of ’em. And I think you kind of talk through with that personalized touch. It really does make a difference. I mean, I kind of giggle because you guys are just down the street. So I probably could just see you the next time I see you and you could say thank you, but taking the time, time to hand write the note. [00:18:00] There are producers out there listening that may have some former clients or prospects that you didn’t win. This is a way to introduce something that maybe you didn’t show them an A quote in the past. This is one where maybe we can go and show them a t a to be a difference, be a differentiator in your marketing strategy and the fact that you’re willing to do that. Well, the fact that you’re willing to do that in the middle of Q four craziness, 50

Victoria Armstrong:

Season. Well,

Jason Powers:

Like you said, off trust

Victoria Armstrong:

Is our middle name. [00:18:30] So if we can help ’em save some money, that would be the ultimate goal. But we also want to help the producers form better relationships with their clients because that right there is going to keep the retention coming. Whoever they’re going with, it’s going to build.

Jason Powers:

Yeah. Well, and I think for a producer out there who doesn’t have a back office outside of Legacy to do the quoting and the submissions and the service work, they don’t have someone like an assistant that can help them with that kind of stuff. That’s a great offer. [00:19:00] So these are the kind of things that you would need in order for them to take advantage of this

Victoria Armstrong:

Stuff. So in addition to just the basic materials to send out, we’d ask that they write about two to three paragraphs, a little bit about their selves so they can touch on that.

Jason Powers:

Okay. So if that’s something you’re interested in taking advantage of, be sure to reach out to our team here at Legacy Brokers and we’ll get you queued up there. It is. The handwritten note. [00:19:30] Yeah, open rate. This is the one I was thinking about, the open rate nearly a hundred percent. I open every single one. I read every single one of ’em, and it does make a difference to me. I don’t get the same other. Yeah, you’re not going to it. Junk mail from other products and other vendors, other carriers. So yeah, I appreciate the extra personal touch for sure. All right, what do we got here? What’s the next slide here, Bob? There it is. Yes. New case submission, right?

Victoria Armstrong:

So you kind of touched on this a little bit earlier. [00:20:00] You spoke a little bit about the pre-screen. So we have two ways of doing it. We have the pre-screen method, which is you send us other carrier apps or a t a apps, and we’re going to pull the medical off of those to see if they would even be a good fit for our amerisure product. Or given that it’s busy season and everybody’s in a time crunch, they can complete a full submission to underwriting, which is going to be the most ideal. It’s going to alleviate a lot of the back and forth. And you’re going to get one of three outcomes, either an offer, contingent [00:20:30] offer or decline if they’re not a good fit for Ameri share. So if you’re the broker of record, you should easily be able to get a quarterly wage in tax prior carrier bill. That plus the apps and the employer application, you’re going to get one of those three outcomes.

Jason Powers:

And I’ll tell you, it does take brokers out in the market, look at the AI underwriting and it’s quick. They get an answer back fast. But that answer may not be accurate. [00:21:00] But a t A, doing the individual medical questionnaires and looking at medical statements of health, getting those health histories, it’s going to give us a more accurate rate, but it takes a little longer, right? It’s not going to be a 24 hour turnaround time on reviewing applications. So getting a headstart by, especially if they’re the broker of record, by getting these things, could get them in a position where they’ve got a firm offer that they can walk into the client with. And what’s really interesting I think, for people to understand [00:21:30] is you don’t require the current rate and the renewal rate in order to underwrite. So you’re not shadow pricing against current and renewal.

You’re looking at, here’s our book rate, here’s where we think they need to be from a risk perspective. And then we just have the ability to use decrements for the different plan options. If we need to adjust out of pockets, adjust different provisions within the contract to get rate where it needs to be. So I always enjoy, I love it [00:22:00] when I get a firm rate back from a t a before it goes out to the broker. I’m always bugging Tory about, well, can you tweak this? Can you tweak that? Can you tweak this? And then I have so many levers that we’re pulling, but it’s really in an effort to put something in front of the producer that they can walk in with confidence and sell to beat the solution for their clients. So that’s sort of the gist of the product and some of the things that we want to talk about. But I know you really want to talk about Tom’s [00:22:30] big sportsman. What is it called now? Big to big Tom’s Sportsman’s showcase there. There was something about Big, big Tom Money we’re in big Tom’s money August 1st, that ended August 1st. Now it’s big Tom’s Sportsman showcase. I got to tell you, I thought it was a really creative idea to engage with producers. And this is for the producer out in the market. Again, as a general agency, you get a hundred percent of the production credit. So what’s big Tom’s Sportsman [00:23:00] showcase?

Victoria Armstrong:

Well, this is just an added bonus on top of the commission. It doesn’t have anything to do with that right now. The promotion that we have going on for the end of December is with any group 20 lives or more placed, we have five gifts that the broker producer both can choose from. We’ve got a Scotty Cameron putter

Judd Spencer:

And custom Driver.

Jason Powers:

Driver and a

Victoria Armstrong:

Callaway driver, right?

Judd Spencer:

Yeah. Well custom of their choice. It doesn’t have to be Callaway.

Victoria Armstrong:

And then we also have a Yeti cooler. And [00:23:30] all this comes with a package of goodies. So I’m just naming the bigger item, but we also have Y

Judd Spencer:

Cooler and a smoker.

Victoria Armstrong:

Yeah, we have that. But what is the shotgun?

Judd Spencer:

It is a weatherbee over and under shotgun in either 12 or 20 gauge, and it actually has an A engraving on it. That’s so cool. There is a Shimano reel. It was the most expensive reel I’ve ever picked up with a T jacket [00:24:00] for

Jason Powers:

With an A fishing jacket

Judd Spencer:

And a St. Croix rod. So all these packages, more or less, are all about worth about a thousand dollars. There’s

Jason Powers:

One more.

Judd Spencer:

One more for the

Jason Powers:

Ladies. For our

Victoria Armstrong:

Ladies, or even for the men and their spouses or significant others. We have a Jimmy Chu tote bag.

Jason Powers:

I don’t know, like you said, words. Well,

Judd Spencer:

More than a thousand dollars.

Jason Powers:

The be crazy if my wife, if she’s watching is going, you [00:24:30] idiot.

Judd Spencer:

It’s been

Jason Powers:

On my list.

Judd Spencer:

So think of another step above Micro Kors and coach. Yeah.

Jason Powers:

Okay. Yes.

Judd Spencer:

Okay.

Jason Powers:

It’s a sought after item. And these are all about a thousand dollars value. Yes. These are incentive programs designed for agents who have not placed a case with a t a or is this, this is for everybody.

Victoria Armstrong:

This is for anybody and everybody between now and the end of December.

Jason Powers:

So even agents out there who have producer or business, [00:25:00] but you get a case placed during this incentive program that’s 20 lives or more.

Victoria Armstrong:

And this is for every 20 lives. So you can place one now and then next month.

Jason Powers:

And then next month you can get the fishing rod and reel. You can earn all five if you get all five. We would love for that to

Judd Spencer:

Happen. We would love that too, right? Very much.

Victoria Armstrong:

And keep your eyes open because even outside of this year, we’re looking to do some more

Jason Powers:

Promotions. I will say that I got an apron, [00:25:30] which I think is part of the,

Judd Spencer:

It’s part cooler package. Within the cooler.

Jason Powers:

I got the apron for the summer incentive. That was a Labor Day gift. The Labor Day gift. It was a really, really nice apron. I think you guys did a really, really classy job on it. It’s something different. Cash always. I think cash always moves the needle for a lot of people. But if you’re a producer out there interested in any of those things, be sure to ask for more details and [00:26:00] send your 20 life cases over for Legacy to quote a t a on, because you just never know when that’s going to be the right fit for that particular group.

Judd Spencer:

Love to, like I said, be able to serve the broker and the client and make everybody happy.

Jason Powers:

Anything else they need to know about what’s going on before we let you get back to managing your universe?

Judd Spencer:

No, other than it is busy season, so we all know [00:26:30] what that entails. But even to Tory’s piece, the quicker you can get us fully submission on quotes and those types of things, it allows us to speed the process up. And even to that point, I know we do extend out on apps for 90 days in the busy season. So with that coming, submit as early as you want and it gives us extra time to work through those. So good luck to everybody on busy season. Yeah,

Jason Powers:

Yeah, for [00:27:00] sure. And I think

Victoria Armstrong:

It’s worth a shot just because of the a hundred percent refund of the unused aggregate dollars. I think give it a shot with every client. You never know. It might be a good fit.

Jason Powers:

I couldn’t agree more. We’d love to quote any of your business with a t a. So again, as a general agent with American Trust Administrators, we don’t cost you or your client anything in addition to their normal course of premiums. And you give 100% of the producer commission [00:27:30] and producer credit as well as the credit toward big to sportsman showcase. So if we can help you with your American Trust administrators quotes, please reach out to our quoting team. There’s a link below this video to contact our quoting team. Additionally, below this video, you’ll see a link to some marketing flyers downloadable content for a t a, that flyer about the sportsman showcase and ways to contact and contract with a t a until we get through this and onto the next [00:28:00] thing. We want to make sure that you have access to our team and access to these great products. So that’s all we’ve got here from now. Good luck out there in Q four. Happy selling. We’ll see you next time.

Thank you for watching this edition of our carrier product update series. Visit our website to watch other episodes.