How many health insurance leads did you call today? Plenty, I hope! This year’s open enrollment for coverage under the Affordable Care Act ends Jan. 31 — barely two weeks away — plus, the penalties for not having coverage climb even higher this year. Make the most of the time left by calling as many leads as you can and selling the policies these customers need. Here’s how to go about it.
Penalties Go Up, Way Up
Should your health insurance leads need a refresher, relay that the cost of not having coverage this year goes up considerably. Those who take a pass on coverage will face these penalties when they file their taxes in April:
- $2,085 max penalty per household or 2.5% of income
- $695 penalty per person
- $347.50 penalty per child
Your leads may be quite surprised by these numbers. Only two years ago in 2014, the maximum household penalty was $285. That’s an increase of more than 700%!
Open Enrollment Comes But Once a Year
Jan. 31 isn’t only a deadline for you, it’s a hard deadline for your potential insurance customers. It’s yet another good reason for them to act now. Without a special qualifying event — marriage, divorce, job change, relocation, and so on — your lead will have to wait until next fall to enroll in health coverage.
Ready-to-Close Aged Health Insurance Leads
The sooner your lead acts the sooner they’re covered. Plan selections made before Jan. 15 become active Feb. 1, while those selected between Jan. 16 and Jan. 31 go into effect March 1.
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Selling the Benefits of Coverage
Beyond penalties and an approaching deadline, there are a number of beneficial reasons for your lead to be excited about their coverage options this year. Subsidies and advanced tax credits are helping more people become insured while Medicaid eligibility is expanding in many areas.
Meanwhile, costs for treatment and medicines are rising. These days, health coverage is not so much an extra as it is a necessary and prudent purchase. Help your leads see the smart investment they’re making in their well-being and their financial future by signing up.
Offering a Solution
As a sales professional, you know how to connect your leads with the right solution for the problem. As you help last-minute leads select the coverage they need, educate your leads about the new requirements and leverage the looming deadline and stiff penalty costs to close more sales. Make sure such details are a part of your script with these leads.
For the uninsured folks who will be subject to paying a penalty, help them see that the cost of foregoing coverage is increasing. The cost of that penalty won’t provide the lead with any health coverage and could have been better spent on coverage rather than paying for inaction.
Closing More Health Insurance Sales
Sales professionals have the opportunity to educate leads on the problem and help them choose the right coverage solution. Make sure you take advantage of this opportunity. Make no mistake, your leads are motivated to avoid these penalties. They are motivated to get coverage that will offset the rising costs of medical treatment. All you have to do is find the perfect solution for them.
Driving Sales With High-Quality Insurance Leads
By the way, how’s that sales prospecting funnel looking? Do you have enough leads to maximize your opportunity here? If not, visit the Aged Lead Store.
The Aged Lead Store has thousands of health insurance leads that need to find a solution to their lack of coverage problem. Fill your pipeline today to take full advantage of the last few weeks of open enrollment. The Aged Lead Store has thousands of high-quality leads to help make the dialing easier.
