The Promise Shop, a Retail Tale

I started Health Insurance Express because of my grandmother. From around 1915 to 1938 she and my grandfather owned and operated the general store in Fulda, Minnesota, a farming town of about 900 people.

When they left Fulda for Chicago in 1938 to be near my dad while he attended DePaul University the whole town turned out for their sendoff. They did that because as merchants and residents of the town my grandparents treated each and every Fulda resident like family.

Many years later my grandmother, who continued working in retail until she was 86 years old would tell me, "Always do the right thing for your customers, treat them like family, and the rest will take care of itself. If you're not sure which products to recommend just ask yourself if you would suggest the same product if this were your brother or sister, your aunt, uncle, cousin, mother, or father." I guess that most of you had a grandparent or grandparents who greatly influenced you too. Those are lessons you never forget.

Of all the things I've done in my working life retail became my first career and my first love. I went from being a stock boy in high school to owning a small chain of men’s clothing stores by age 26. After several years I got tired of the seven-day, five-night a week schedule and started to seek a change. I knew that many of my retail skills and values would transfer into a career in the insurance field and that’s what I decided to do. However, after many years I got the “bug” again and I took my traditional insurance career (stuffy office, by appointment only) and changed it into a new type of retail experience, Health Insurance Express. So far it's working...and I think it is because I followed my grandmother's advice.

Many people asked me how I could sell an intangible product like insurance in a retail store. But that never occurred to me because I know that our customers look to us for efficient, economical, and secure solutions to their risk management needs. Having a relaxed, informal, and accessible place to do that made perfect sense to me and it made the shopping experience much easier for our customers.

Yes, we sell a lot of different products from a lot of insurance companies. Many of these products are complex and explained in lengthy contracts. But I have often said that insurance, by its most essential definition, is simply a promise to pay. Looking at insurance products as promises to pay makes them easier to understand and easier to explain. Here’s what I mean. We offer:

• The promise of quality health care with our health insurance plan 
• The promise of a retirement free from a health care financial disaster with our Medicare plans
• The promise of happy, protected, and trusting employees with our employee benefits plans
• The promise of brighter smiles and beautiful sunsets with our dental and vision plans
  
• The promise of a financially secure future for our loved ones with our life insurance plans
• The promise of a stress-free recovery from a sickness or injury with our disability, critical illness, and accident insurance plans

Like most of you I always had a desire to learn more about my family’s history. As I get older I think that it helps to understand who I am if I have a better sense of where I came from. My dad never told me much about his boyhood or what it was like to grow up in a small town but I always wondered about it, especially since I only knew what it was like to grow up in Chicago, a huge urban area.

Many years after my grandparents and parents had passed away my wife and I took a trip to Fulda, Minnesota, my first time there. I had written a letter to the editor of the newspaper before we left for Fulda, asking if there were archives where I might see ads for my grandparents' general store or information about my dad’s and uncle’s school days. I didn’t hear back from the editor but when we got into town half of the people had heard about our visit and they met us, brought mementoes, photos, and best of all, personal stories about my grandparents, my uncle, and my father. The head of the town’s historical society put together a whole presentation of old photos and news articles for us. It was one of the best experiences of my life, really like a family reunion.

Of course one of the things that we had to do during our time in Fulda was to visit the site of my family's general store. What is  it today? To my great surprise I found that it's the town's insurance agency! Thanks Grandma. And thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Alan Leafman, President

aleafman@wwins.com

(800) 955-0418

Power, Influence, and Advertising

So I’m about eleven months away from the expiration of my car lease and I don’t think it’s too early to start researching a new vehicle. My current ride is the official state car of Arizona, a white four-door sedan. Very comfortable, extremely reliable, great on gas mileage, and it was affordable.

Next time around, however, I’m thinking of going a little bigger, possibly something SUV’ish, truck’ish, or even Minivan’ish. That’s because I will probably be doing a little bit more hauling of grandkids, groceries, and plywood, not necessarily in that order.

And so, I’ve begun my top secret research, looking at advance photos of next generation SUV’s and minivans, possibly even crew cab pickup trucks, the other official vehicle of Arizona. I’ve also been checking websites such as Edmunds, Kelley Blue Book, Consumer Reports, and the big auto magazines. It’s amazing how much information is out there…down to the last millimeter of every nook and cranny of every vehicle.

Well, I think that I’ve got my short list of contenders whittled down to my top five… or six…or seven. But all the statistics and photos in the world don’t really tell the story of what it’s like to sit behind the wheel, get the speedometer up to 30 or even 40 miles an hour, and see how many rolls of Costco toilet paper fit behind the last row of seats.

This morning I was on my 6 AM walk with Bruno the Wonder Dog and I walked right past a neighbor’s open garage. Inside was one of my short list cars. My neighbor was about to drive away and I greeted her a good morning and casually said, “How do you like your new Jeep?” She stopped in her tracks and went on for five minutes about all of the things, large and small that she loved about the car. I thanked her, after verifying that she didn’t work for the dealer or the manufacturer, and continued on my way.

As I walked I thought to myself, “This car is now near the top of my short list. It sounds like the perfect choice.” And it occurred to me that my neighbor’s spontaneous little speech had more influence on me than all of the research I had done to that point and all the advertising that I had ever seen for the car and the brand. A few heart-felt words from a neighbor swayed me more than anything else I had seen or read.

What’s my point? It’s that in today’s highly connected world, whether through social media, mass communications, texting, or talking we are influenced by buyers/users/consumers/raving fans far more than by sellers/marketers/advertisers.

Which made me think, “How do our customers really feel about what we do? And are they telling us about it when we screw up? Are they telling others when we do a good job?” Based on my car research experience I’m asking all of our readers to share the good and the bad with each other, and to especially let us know when we’ve let you down or missed your highest expectations. If you do, we can work on constantly improving our flaws. And if you share your positive experiences with friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers we can serve more of you to the best of our abilities. We can also share many of the great insights that we learn from you each and every day as well. So start texting, tweeting, posting, e-mailing or calling. We’re looking forward to getting our “report card”.

Thanks for reading.

Last in our Series About Preparing for 2017

With a dwindling number of ever higher cost, higher out-of-pocket, fewer provider health insurance plans on the 2017 horizon it is likely that many folks around the country will, unfortunately, choose to go without coverage and pay a tax penalty. Some of you may not even have a choice in the matter as there may be counties (there is one in Arizona right now with nearly 10,000 Obamacare policy owners) that won’t have any insurance companies offering plans at all.

If you choose to be uninsured next year or you simply have no insurance plans offered in your area there are things that you can do and resources to know about, that can help you tremendously if you develop a medical problem or are simply in need of preventive care or screening services.
 
Here are several of the very best:

• Use a Community Health Center for primary care and non-life threatening problems. Community Health Centers, largely funded by the federal government, have been around since the 1960’s. They now serve more than 9,200 communities throughout the US. For more information about this valuable medical resource click here.
• Join a low-cost telemedicine/wellness service. The best of these services provide 24/7 access to board certified physicians who can be accessed by telephone or, in some cases, by video calls. Nearly 9 out of 10 minor health issues may be diagnosed, and treated by these services. Physicians may prescribe most types of non-narcotic medications. Some of these services use a monthly subscription fee model, others use a “per visit” copayment model. One of the ones that we like the best is Healthiest You.
   
• The retail mini clinics that can now be found in many drug stores and mass merchandisers can be an affordable resource for primary care. Usually a flat copay amount takes care of everything that happens during your visit. If attached to a pharmacy and you need medication, you can take care of everything in a single visit.
   
•  Urgent care centers offer another “front-line” option for medical crises and certain preventive care services. However, you need to be cautious, as the level of care and professionalism varies greatly from company to company. Also, some of these centers will try to pile up a lot of medical and lab tests at very high cost.
   
•  If you need lab work use one of several online re-sellers. These companies use the major national labs for their blood draws but they buy tests in bulk and re-sell them at deeply discounted rates, sometimes as much as 80% less than you would pay directly to the lab itself. Our favorite is Walk-in-Lab. This service does not require a doctor’s order (save on the cost of an office visit) and the test results are e-mailed directly to you.
   
• If you need a procedure or a higher-cost diagnostic test get medical providers to bid for your business. There is actually an online auction site for consumers that can be used for qualified medical professionals to bid on many types of procedures and tests. The site also includes qualitative information about each medical provider. To learn more go to MediBid.
   
• Become a medical tourist. Many medical and dental procedures can be performed by Western-trained, highly credentialed physicians and dentists in foreign countries, but at much lower rates than those charged in the US. One company, MedRepublic, was started by American physicians. They personally investigate the qualifications and clinical results of all providers in their international network. Even if you are already insured you may find that many elective procedures and dental services such as implants are not covered on your plans. Medical tourism could save you thousands without sacrificing quality of care.
   
•  Save on prescription medications. There are several websites and phone applications that check prescription prices, coupons, and manufacturer incentives in real time at all pharmacies in your area. These services could save hundreds on the cost of medications. We like GoodRx. Our own free Prescription Discount Card can save up to 75% on human and pet medications at nearly 60,000 pharmacies. Also, if you are on a limited income and have been prescribed expensive medications there are several prescription assistance programs that could reduce your prescription costs by thousands of dollars. With a program like LoneStarScriptCare, if your income qualifies, each medication will cost $20 per month regardless of its actual cost.
   
• Save on care with medical professionals and other health care practitioners with SingleCare. This service will soon have providers throughout the country but they currently service much of the west and southwest. They have arranged for special low-prices on dozens of medical services for cash patients.
  

We hope that everyone in 2017 will have access to affordable, accessible health care  but if you find that you simply cannot afford, or have no access to insurance, the resources shown above could save considerably on your costs of care while providing access to highly qualified medical professionals. Thanks for reading.

Alan Leafman, President

(800) 955-0418