Monday, October 17, 2011

The Lesser of Two Evils

Recently, I've been really disappointed in my day job. I don't get much in the way of pay. Half of my paycheck goes towards gas every week. Anymore, I'm so broke my mother bought me food a few weeks ago as I had no cash and nothing in savings (very unlike me as I always have money stashed away in my savings account).

Last week, I complained about the hours and a few commenters mentioned that maybe I could work ten hour days and get a day off. Great idea, except the office is only open for 8 hours a day. Besides that, I never actually get stuck in traffic driving home from work. The route itself is over an hour long. I'm sure with traffic, I would be driving for two plus hours one way. With winter coming, I see myself spending hours on the road, and it's not worth it.

I was promised a raise once I get my insurance license, a raise I have yet to see. When asking about it, I get the "Oh, I don't have that kind of money" coming from my boss. Besides that, I was also promised 50% commission, something I also rarely see. I don't know enough about commissions as I've only been working in insurance for 5 months. However, my boss told me of the kind of commission she gets for each policy, and after I did my research online, I learned that actually the commission rates are double then what she says. Is she telling me of a lower commission so that my 50% is actually smaller then it should be? Closer to 25%.

The other day I did some research on the company I work for. You would be shocked at what I found. Besides being one of  the top rated insurance companies in the country, they had bad premium rates, horrible underwriting of policies, horrible claims practices, and bad treatment of their employees. I uncovered several lawsuits because of their bad treatment of their own staff and because of clients, after paying over priced premiums, being denied claims for dumb reasons.

I was sick after what I found. As lately I have been considering going to work for a different company, I decided to do my research on all the other top rated insurance companies in the nation. There are only five of them so the research was supposed to be easy.

What did I learn:
The one I work for is the worst because of highest premium and next to lowest claims resolutions.

The one I'm insured with is the best, but they have so many agents and clients that I wouldn't be competitive if I got a job with them.

Then there is one with low prices but the worst claims practice out of all of them.

Then there is one that's somewhere in the middle. Medium prices (not the cheapest nor most expensive), claims is pretty good. And they are looking for agents. I considering a job with this one. Like all companies, it doesn't seem to be the greatest, but it's not the worst.

There is only one more left to research and from what I hear that one is hard to get a job with.

So this is my problem with work and the new job I'm trying to get.

Now, in your own experiences, what insurance companies have you been burned by and which are you happy with? Share your insurance stories with me!

6 comments:

  1. I'm afraid that I don't have a wide variety of experience to share. My family has been with the same State Farm agent for nearly as long as I've been alive.

    I hope you find a great job with a company you can be proud to work for and above all a boss who treats you right. :-)

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  2. The way everything has skyrocketed out there I'm surprised there's anyone left who is happy with there day job. Hang in there. :)

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  3. Depends on the type of insurance you're talking about. Medical-wise, me and United Health had to part ways. Too expensive for what they did cover let alone what they didn't.

    And I had situation with All State (not mine but the driver that was at fault) where they kept delaying a payment to me or the shop that fixed my car. Not fun.

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  4. I can never keep track of all our insurance companies car/house/health. That's why I got married. LOL.

    To me, they're all about the same--but I have to agree with Angela, I did not like United Healthcare. So far, Cigna has been pretty good though.

    I wish there was a simpler answer to your dilemma. It's obvious you need to find something closer, and preferably something that pays well.

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  5. I worked for a health insurance company for six years in nearly every department, from member services, to claims to sales. It was QualMed Plans for Health, now Foundation Health Systems, and was a great company to work for. They were in the median for prices, but seemed to have a good record for claims payments (though that was 10+ years ago).

    I'm currently insured by Blue Cross and I've had no complaints.

    Good luck!

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  6. Health insurance wise, I miss GHI. I didn't pay a dime, my employer paid it all, but when I left that job (stupidstupidstupid) COBRA was about $600 so... goodbye GHI. Then I was on UHC, and my experience was that it was too expensive. I'm not insured now. It sucks. My boyfriend is on Blue Cross I think. Last year he got hit by a car and was charged a $400 copay at the ER, and to this day STILL gets bills for it.

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