GUEST ON THIS EPISODE
Quincy McAlpine
Quincy McAlpine is the founder and CEO of Small Business Health Insurance and MI Health Quotes.com. He leads a health insurance agency focused on helping people in the moments they are looking for healthcare. Individuals, families, and small businesses that are looking to take care of their healthcare insurance tasks can get it done quickly while maxing value and benefit.
Voices in Healthcare Podcast
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Direct to Consumer Healthcare
[THEME MUSIC]
Dustin Baly—Are you a health care connoisseur? Voices in Healthcare takes you on a journey to explore the latest trends in healthcare satisfaction, effectiveness, and value. I’m your host, Dustin Baly. I’m an omnichannel marketer whose consulting journey have led me to collaborate with fascinating leaders in healthcare on growth marketing strategies.
In today’s episode, we’re going to talk with a leader in the direct to consumer health insurance marketplace.
Allow me to introduce to a distinguished entrepreneurial leader. When it comes to purchasing health insurance Quincy McAlpine has been a leading voice as President and CEO of Small Business Health Insurance. Quincy has been on the front lines of the direct to consumer health insurance revolution that has been offering people affordable healthcare choices.
The funny thing that happened along the way to the health insurance marketplace, it was designed originally for desktop computers but it came out right during the Steve Jobs iPhone revolution. Rather than utilizing these torrents of web servers, the API integrations communicating all this personal information, something else happened. The call center has thrived.
Quincy’s business has thrived by developing a team that is focused across the organization to his commitment, “You won’t go to voicemail, I’ve founded this for you.”
Welcome, Quincy McAlpine to the show. I believe you’ve mastered the moment of people calling in with questions about health insurance.
Tell us what’s going on in people’s lives as they’re looking for individual or family health insurance.
Quincy McAlpine—I think one of the most common questions is “What type of plan with deductibles and out of pocket costs am I looking at here?” Obviously, cost is very important. I find a lot of people want to know what they are getting for that cost.
There are a lot of flexible options to put a plan together to fit that cost, to fit that out of pocket need that that person has. Most people are just looking at monthly cost right now. It’s a little bit on the complex side, you almost need a computer or a calculator to figure out your net cost— your out of pocket, your deductible amounts added to your monthly premium. I do get surprised when people crunch every number and do that net cost calculation, and I respect that.
People know they are going to get protected, they know they’re going to get something for that monthly premium, and they have to keep it in budget.
Baly—So why should consumers shop for healthcare every year?
McAlpine—There’s definitely trends going on. These healthcare companies are trying to capture your business, they want that business. Every year they are going to give you something special as an incentive that a typical renewal plan will not give.
Baly—So what should you have ready when you’re calling in to speak with an agent and you’re shopping for health insurance?
McAlpine—Have your personal information handy, your social security number, your basic contact information such as your phone number, your amount of family members. That’s what you need to generate an accurate quote.
Baly—It doesn’t take very long. How long would you say on average does it take to shop for a health insurance plan, considering the different people?
McAlpine—Well at our at our agency, it’s not long at all. We are right there online. As we are talking we have the marketplace quoting engine tool up. We are asking the proper questions. We’re zeroing in on what that person’s health is like, what their needs are, what their cost request is, and what they can afford as far as premiums go. We’re doing it quickly. We’re doing it in 3-5 minutes.
Baly—What kind of savings are people getting by shopping for health insurance every year? What can be the difference?
McAlpine—What we are seeing is on the average about a ten percent. With hikes from some of these companies sometimes higher, depending on the plans. So depending on how benefit rich those plans are, the higher they are going up at the end of the year. So I’d say on average about 10%, and people who are not getting assistance from the government, subsidies from the government—that can be quite a bit. There are plans out there that are quite expensive, so 10% could be a dinner out with the family—a big dinner out with the family.
With us the more you shop the more you understand and learn about your policy, and learn about the other policies out their, being educated. That’s so important.
You know we pride ourselves on our ability to asses that risk and crunch those numbers, and really get in there and look at the medications, and what’s going on with that person so that they are well served that department.
Baly—I think that’s been some of the magic of what’s happened to the internet over the ten years. It use to be you had these web page experiences, now you have these deep phone call experiences with experts who can really make a difference in your life. It’s not going to take that long and it’s a new relationship that you are going to have every year to check back to further leverage that expertise and go on with your life. Take that big family dinner in the name of your health insurance shopping agent every year.
McAlpine—I think it is very complex to try to do this online, it really is. I find that even the young people are really happy to hear from someone. When you get them on the phone and you’re engaging properly, they appreciate it too.
Our clients really appreciate that experience, especially when we’re not sucking up an hour of their time. We’re doing it briefly, we’re doing it cautiously, and we’re asking the right questions. But we’re doing it carefully as well, we are definitely cognizant of their time.
Baly—One of the most important things that I’ve learned from you Quincy is how the spirit of partnership and collaboration can transform industries. There’s often a lot of competition between organizations and that’s natural, yet there is also a certain amount of collaboration that can happen that can lead to transformational outcomes. I’ve learned that you can get a larger outcome through collaborating with an organization rather than competing with them. What are your thoughts on when it comes to partnership and growing industries working together?
McAlpine—We have definitely benefited from partnerships in our industry for sure. At some point, we are just doing what we can do out there, we’re not competing anymore, we’re just servicing the people who come in.
When it comes to collaboration, we see that the plan design, that’s really to help these insurance companies, we’re partnering with them. They need our help in designing those plans. We’re talking with people on the street and we’re seeing what they need, what they’re looking for and the insurance companies are coming to it from a bit of a different angle, so we see that they’re needing us, and obviously we need them. So that collaboration there is definitely important. It’s essential to keep these plans moving in the right direction, keeping them modernized, utilizing new technology, and keeping them easy for the client. I love the collaboration.
Baly—I love to hear that you’re collaborating your self-evident truths in healthcare into the plans of the future to become better and stronger. The plans become better and stronger as a result. I believe it’s in the nature of our society to evolve in that system.
You know, together with 49 SEO Services and this business I started Search Light Leads, we were an early lead provider for you, we were reaching into search results and finding people who were looking for the health insurance plans that you were providing. What was it like to get that initial set of leads when we first started?
McAlpine—[laughing], good question. It was great. It was awesome. We were really pleasantly surprised, those phone rang like crazy. We were getting a ton of phone calls. We were just happy to be talking with people. When you’re on the phone all day long all sorts of good things can happen. So yeah, it was a great experience.
Baly—it’s a pleasure.
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