Senior Healthcare Consultants: How safe are they for agents?

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 02:48 am Post Subject:

Well, I have read every post back to the beginning. SHC certainly is a scam. All of these posts pretty much sum up the experience I had with SHC. There are two sides to every story....Interesting how many people have the same story about their experience with SHC. SHC can say what they want, but we all know the truth. The people that are in here from SHC are only making fools of themselves. And I must say in response to the above post from someone at SHC saying if we went all the way to Dallas we were "idiots", well the details and stories changed when we got to Dallas, so that makes a SCAM.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 03:13 am Post Subject:

Another great post!!

I'm convinced that all of you cannot be wrong - so let's sue them. Who's got the videos, recodings, training manuals, account books or names of victims willing to come forward and give me a statement under oath?

I've been investigating this type of fraud for 16 years and have been called one of the very best at what I do. I have a law firm in Austin, Texas standing by to meet with agents or policyholders who've been damaged. Let's not let them get away with it.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 03:28 am Post Subject:

As long as I'm not violating a particular client's HIPAA rights to privacy in disclosing case information, I'd be happy to testify to bring these scumbags to justice. I'll do whatever it takes.

Sent you an email - please reply.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 03:33 am Post Subject: Response to 7 questions - Question 1

Seven Questions –

In your first question what you really seem to be asking is what percentage of people succeed with SHC compared to the rest of the insurance industry. Considering everything (weeks off, redistribution of ads, personnel changes, etc.), the average over the course of 5 years is probably about 5 new recruits being trained per week. As far as retention goes, or in your words, “a snowball’s chance in hell of success”, we likely retain slightly less than the industry average primarily because we are generally more demanding of our agents because of the continued level of investment into them each and every day. Agents must hit the ground running and we provide all of the support that we can to help them to do that. We invest in them every day in the form of preset appointments, admin assistance, management, training, business submission and placement, SHP department, call center, etc, etc, etc…. most opportunities do not have this level of day to day investment into their agents. We have a decent amount of individuals who change from one division to another or still keep their contracts active to submit an application every once in a while. Right now we have roughly 150 actively producing agents and approximately 30 managers and trainers who are no longer actively field producing. Doing the math that equates to roughly 1 in 7 or 8 consultants still involved with our organization. If that is a snowball’s chance in your mind then you are correct.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 03:34 am Post Subject: Repsponse to 7 Questions - Question 2

On the churning or twisting of business - This is not only untrue, but it makes absolutely no sense from a business standpoint. As has been referenced in earlier posts, we do receive a level commission for most of our insurance products for 6-7 years. That being said, if we already have a client whose policy is paying commissions to us, who also has a product we believe in, how would it make any financial sense to have that policy replaced? If we charge back the commission from a former agent we simply have to pay it right back out to the person who sold the new policy. Literally, this is the LAST thing we would want to happen. We have no idea what you are referring to, but if you are referring to converting a policy from one subsidiary under one carriers umbrella of companies to another, that was done for a time (when our carriers clearly promoted doing it) in order to provide our clients with the best option available to them and that practice did not result in the original writing agent being charged back for the original policy written. Please understand that every decision this organization makes is first and foremost designed to benefit the seniors that we work with. We constantly teach that if it is the best thing for the senior it will be the best thing for our agents. This is a small community Seven Questions, the carriers are very aware of even a single agent trying to do something like you are suggesting.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 03:35 am Post Subject: Response to 7 Questions - Question 3

On the IRS form - Yes! Form SS-8 is used to request a determination from the IRS on status of workers, to determine if they are employees or independent contractors. This question will be addressed thoroughly in the following post which another Manager will directly examine /explain the employer/employee/independent contractor relationship. I will only say that this has never been an issue in any of the states we have conducted business, nor has it been an issue for the vast majority of agencies that 1099 their agents.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 03:37 am Post Subject: Reponse to 7 Questions - Question 5

In regards to PFFS or PPO training; again, your statement is not only untrue, but absolutely ridiculous. We still have some agents that sell Medicare Advantage PFFS policies! The only way we can think of that this could have been misconstrued is that it is true that certain companies no longer offer Medicare Advantage PFFS or PPO as of January 1, 2010 and that plans can change each year but that is on an individual and state by state basis. What you are saying has never been taught and is in none of our training materials. We encourage all agents to find the plans in their states to determine what changes are taking place. As previously stated, our job is to protect seniors; we take that job very seriously. We would never, knowingly or otherwise, advise anyone to do anything that is not in strict accordance with CMS rules and regulations as well as the rules and regulations of the state where they reside.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 03:39 am Post Subject: Response to 7 Questions - Question 4

To the BBB Ratings - The BBB ratings change regularly. Thank you for calling to our attention that our rating is not A+ currently. Any materials we have representing an A+ rating will be changed. You are correct when you say, “no longer”, as our rating had been A+ the last time we checked. I can assure you it was an oversight, not an attempt to mislead or misrepresent anything associated. I will also say that we represent a lot of carriers and the concerns we generally address is that of the ratings of carriers we represent, there is generally not an issue associated with our rating. We obviously do all we can to maintain the highest level of rating with the BBB and any complaint this organization has ever received has been addressed and taken care of.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 03:40 am Post Subject: Response to 7 Questions - Question 6

The 2004 violation that resulted in the below action from the TDI was actually a result of practices that occurred in 2000 and 2001 and was a result of an affiliation with a carrier who taught sales techniques that were later to be found in violation. This is not an excuse and Mr. Dale took full responsibility for his actions. His affiliation with this insurance carrier was discontinued March 28, 2002 and in 2003 he founded what would later become Senior Healthcare Consultants (SHC). A lot was learned from that experience. He cooperated with the Department’s enforcement authority in its investigation of all complaints that took place back in 2000 and 2001. This was and has been the only violation on Mr. Dale’s record in Texas and there has never been any violation on Mr. Dale in any of the other 47 contiguous states for which he has active business.

So, regarding your initial question as to whether or not we advise prospective agents of this instance, the answer is no, as this issue took place with a different carrier and prior to SHC even being established.

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 03:57 am Post Subject: Reponse to 7 Questions - Question 7

Addressing being surprised by comments getting to critical mass - I am not sure the basic inquiries that I have seen to this point would qualify as critical mass but I can say that I am out here now to correct as much of these misconceptions and misunderstandings as possible.

I encourage you to contact me at SHC_answers@shcmarketing.com with any viable concern that you feel is not getting addressed and I want to personally thank you for helping us to accomplish one of the goals for being out here, that being to do all we can to make this organization better.