Let us start with the question you are probably too polite to ask out loud: if your help is free, then who is paying you, and does that change the advice I get? Good. That is exactly the question you should be asking, and not just of us. Of anyone who wants to help you with insurance. So here is the complete answer.
The short version
Insurance carriers pay agents a commission for enrolling and servicing clients. Here is the part most people do not know: on the plans people actually shop, that commission is already priced into the premium whether you use an agent or not. Enroll on your own and the price is the same. Enroll with us and the price is the same. The only difference is whether someone checked your doctors, your prescriptions and your options before you signed.
So no, working with us does not cost you anything extra. You are not paying us. Your premium is the same whether you enroll on your own or with us, because carriers build agent compensation into the rates they file with the state.
Where the money actually comes from
Every health plan’s premium includes the carrier’s costs of doing business: medical claims, administration, and distribution. Distribution is how the carrier gets the policy sold, and it is priced into the filed rate whether that happens through an agent, a website, or the carrier's own call center.
When you enroll through Apex, the carrier pays us directly. Nothing is added to your bill. Nothing changes about your coverage, your network, or your renewal.
Now the question behind the question
What you are really wondering is whether the commission steers the advice. It should worry you, because at some sales operations it does. Some shops are paid differently depending on which plan they place you in, and you can hear that pressure in the pitch.
Here is how we have set things up so that does not happen to you.
We are independent. We hold appointments with major carriers in the states where we are licensed rather than a contract with one company. Nobody hands us a quota for a particular plan.
We will show you plans even when they pay us nothing. Some carriers have cut or eliminated commissions on certain plans. If one of those is your best fit, you will still see it, and we will tell you plainly that it pays us nothing so you can weigh our advice with clear eyes.
You are allowed to ask, and you will get a straight answer. If you want to know how we are paid on a specific plan you are considering, ask. We would rather answer that question than have you wonder about it.
Five questions to ask any agent, including us
If you take nothing else from this page, take these.
- Are you independent, or do you represent one carrier?
- Are you paid differently depending on which plan I choose?
- Will you show me plans that pay you less, or nothing?
- Will you check my doctors and prescriptions against each plan before recommending anything?
- Who do I call next year when something changes?
Anyone worth working with will answer all five without flinching.
And if you ever find a plan or an agent on your account that you did not authorize, call the Marketplace and say exactly that. Ask them to document it and to tell you whose name is listed as your agent of record. That is a different and more serious problem than a bad recommendation, and it has its own process.