Hearing, but not Listening

Selective listening is a trait not limited to children and teens. Many adults practice this as well. They hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest.

This is one of the more frustrating aspects of my work. People ask for my advice on how to put together a cost efficient health plan then completely ignore my recommendation because it is not something they wanted to hear.

Case in point.

A lady who had been with the same carrier for 5 years and endured significant rate increases was complaining about the cost of her plan. She felt the carrier was unjustly implementing rate increases and wanted to know what legal action she could take against the carrier. In her opinion, the carrier was breaking the law.

I explained that the plan she chose in 2001 was very rich in benefit. I also told her the plan was under-priced at the time and continued to be so for the next 3 years. What she was experiencing now was the carrier catching up for prior foolishness in delivering a product to market with pricing that would not support the benefits.

She had no complaints as long as she was getting a “deal”. Only when it became time to pay for years of below market pricing did she suddenly feel ripped off.

She wants to blame the carrier for this problem. I agreed, up to a point, and told her the carrier was indeed fined last year for failing to properly inform policyholders of the justification for the rate increase.

So who can she complain to and get a legal remedy for her situation?

No one, I told her. The carrier is well within their rights to raise rates to current levels. The punishment inflicted on the carrier was not because of current rate levels but for failing to properly explain their renewal action.

I also told her the best way to deal with this “crisis” was to allow me to help her find a new plan with a different carrier. I told her of a plan, almost identical to the one she has now, that is almost 30% lower in price assuming she can qualify for the coverage.

Most of my clients stay with me for years and many stay with the same carrier. This is achieved by designing a plan that will fit your needs now and into the future. I have one client that has been with the same carrier for 10 years, something that is unheard of in today’s world.

Her response to my suggestions was to dismiss them, still insisting the government (or legal action) was the way to fight the increase.

Selective listening.

She should have grown out of this years ago.

This entry was posted on April 13, 2006 at 8:42 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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