Are you a health insurance agent trying to figure out what to do next and raise your commissions? Get trained on how to sell life insurance.

With only one carrier left in Maricopa County on the exchange and plan prices increasing, many agents are turning to short term health insurance plans to help their clients curb costs. While there are many things to think about when working with a client who wants a short term plan, here are the 5 main things to consider:

The door has closed in Maricopa County for under-65 health insurance. The county is left with only one carrier in the market. All under-65 plans now have little to no commissions, which puts health agents in a bind. There are general agencies completely letting go of that business, leaving brokers without direction and holding a book of business that they feel is worthless.

With Individual and Family plan commissions quickly dwindling this year, many agents who primarily sold under age 65 health insurance are getting out of the business. They can’t justify spending an hour or two with each of their clients when they aren’t getting any commissions. There aren’t many qualified health insurance options that agents can offer, which will result in most clients going through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Due to this, many agents are taking their Health insurance licenses and using them to work in call center jobs for health carriers and large online entities.

Last month, we told you that Cigna and Centene were planning to offer health insurance plans in Maricopa County. Now the pickings have gotten even slimmer. Cigna just announced it will NOT be offering any plans in the state of Arizona on the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace, due to the ongoing dynamics of the Affordable Care Act.

As you heard last month, WAP recently joined forces with Brokers Alliance to make life insurance products more accessible for WAP agent cross-selling. Now that you have access to Brokers Alliance products and expertise, let’s chat about how you can use those products to your advantage.