Independent or Captive?  Most people that have an insurance license understand the difference between the two and how it effects the customer.  However, if you are a person filling out a form on the internet and start getting calls from people you might not know or understand why knowing the difference matters.

A Captive Agent -  An agent that represents ONE company.  This means they can only sell plans from that company and therefore will try to tell you only the benefits of their plan over every other plan.  The problem, in my opinion with a captive agent is that they can not be unbiased because they must sell you the plan(s) they can offer.

Independent Agent - I prefer this model because it allows the customer to choose from multiple companies and multiple plans.  The market in insurance is always changing.  One company may raise their rates and then another will lower the rates or add additional benefits to a plan.  A good independent agent knows the market and can make recommendations based on the current market condition.  The potential problem with this approach is that if an agent does not keep up on the market they might only write business for a few select companies that they feel comfortable selling.  Anther potential problem is that they may favor companies that pay them the most. 

Specialist vs Generalist - Some independent agents sell homeowners, auto, liability, and health insurance.  It is hard to stay up on the changes in just health insurance let alone all the other kinds of insurance.  If you agent sells car, homeowners and liability chances are he/she is a generalist.  How can one human know all the homeowners issues and then be expected to know another 30 policies from a health insurance company?  I learned the hard way to ask hard question of my agent.  Make sure your health insurance agent is a specialist focused only on health insurance.  This means that they must make a living dealing with health insurance on a daily basis.

If I can assist in any way let me know.
Brent
http://www.dallashealthquote.com
http://www.dentonhealthinsurance.com

 

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