Conflicted insurance consultants/brokers

There is something wrong with the system when consultants and brokers hired to give independent assessments and advice on the best health insurance or prescription-drug coverage are excused for receiving bonuses from the insurance companies they are evaluating as a “thank you” for their loyalty. They believe it’s ok to receive such gifts because the payments are “standard in the industry.” The article in the Wall Street Journal, Health-Care Consultants Reap Fees From Those They Evaluate, describes three separate cases where the consultants/brokers were receiving bonuses for their loyalty. The article says “Aetna gives brokers a ‘retention bonus’ for staying loyal” (we call this a kickback). In the first case described, the consultant was hired for $35,000 a year to help pick the best insurance. Little did the employer know, the same consultant was paid a total of over $500,000 in payments and other compensation by the insurance company he had recommended. And the consultant’s son claims there is no conflict of interest? That he did nothing wrong because the “payments he received are standard in the industry… ‘All [insurance] companies offer bonuses.’” Sorry, but that’s a load of ****.

Insurance companies say that the incentives and bonuses are not built into the premiums the clients pay and they don’t raise health care costs --- We, respectfully, disagree.

It’s time to clean this mess up! It’s a good thing New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer brought this to light in the public eye about two years ago through a widely publicized investigation of several brokers and insurance companies.

Everybody needs to be vigilant. As the article says, one question that needs to be asked when hiring consultants is “"Who are you working in the best interest of, yourself or the client?"