Hospital Indemnity plans pay money directly to your client for every day they stay in a hospital after being admitted. Not all Hospital Indemnity plans are equal and knowing which plans that will best suit the needs of your client can be a huge help in selling more policies.
Use The Guaranteed Issue Period To Sell More HI Plans
Some plans do offer a Guaranteed issue option at certain ages. There are no health questions and enrollment is an absolute breeze with these cases. This is what we like to call a 1 time get out of jail free card. If your client has any of the conditions below and they did not sign up for this plan during the guaranteed issue period, it is very unlikely that they will ever have the option again.
Conditions That Could Impact Their Enrollment Outside the Guarantee Issue Period
- Insulin dependent diabetic
- Have been admitted to the hospital in the last 12 months
- Have COPD or respiratory diseases
- Diagnosed Cognitive Issues, ex: Alzheimers
If your clients don’t sign up now, they may never get it again based on their health.
Use The Cash Benefit To Sell More Hospital Indemnity Plans
The cash benefit is a check that is paid directly to the client after they are discharged from the hospital. It will pay them a certain amount for each day they were admitted depending on their plan design.
Hospital stays can have a lot of costs associated that are non-medical and not covered by health insurance. Having this cash benefit can offset some of those costs and greatly reduce the out-of-pocket amount your clients will end up paying.
A few examples would be:
- Transportation
- Meals for the spouse
- Lost time at work for the spouse
- Prescription drug costs
- Experimental treatments
Some Carriers Offer Fully Customizable Plans
Let’s face it, having the ability to fully customize a plan for your client makes it easier to sell. This will also give you the chance to offer the perfect plan for your clients instead of shoehorning them into one that is pre-built. You start with the daily hospital benefit and can customize more from there with options such as:
- Cancer Lump Sum
- Short Term Care
- Ambulance Rider
- Emergency Room
- Outpatient Diagnostic
- And many more benefits
Is Hospital Indemnity A Cancer Plan?
No, but some Hospital Indemnity plans offer a cancer rider. Most cancer plans require that you go 10 years cancer free before enrolling in a plan. Well, some Hospital Indemnity plans only require 3 or 5 years cancer free to enroll and then you can place them with a Cancer Rider. Can you imagine the savings to your clients who have battled cancer in the past and may have cancer recur in the future? This is basically a cancer plan that would give them a hospital benefit if they ever get admitted!
Rewards For Selling Hospital Indemnity Plans
There are plans on the market that have application fees associated with signing up for HI. There are others that have no fees and give application bonuses for each app written. Some carriers are even giving bonuses to those environmentally aware agents that are adopting the e-application process. Who wouldn't like getting double bonuses for each app written?
Another bonus to selling HIP is that you get paid weekly on these policies during AEP to help cover costs of doing business. You don't have to wait until January to put money in your pocket.
Want to get some insider information on upcoming products that other agents don’t have? Get contracted with an agent focused FMO like Tidewater Management Group and you will have a dedicated product specialist to offer the support & training you will need to put your clients in the best suited plans for their needs.
We’d love the opportunity to work with you here at Tidewater Management Group. We offer three great options for hospital indemnity plans: Medico, Guarantee Trust Life, and Bankers Fidelity. You can also check out this post on the importance of offering hospital indemnity plans to your clients. If you have any questions or if there's anything that we can help you with, feel free to give us a call at 888-622-9122!
I think I have been contracted in the past thru you all with this carrier.