Whether you are buying gas, groceries, or insurance … the ability
to comfortably make those purchases is being impacted for many
individuals and families.

People simply can’t afford to spend hundreds of dollars each
month for quality, major medical health insurance. As a result,
major medical insurers are losing thousands of customers annually. They increase their premiums to compensate for higher claims. But, because premiums are higher, they lose more customers. The entire scenario escalates into a vicious cycle. Where is it all going to end?

With United American, that’s where! UA’s Foundation Signature
Series (MMGAP) is the perfect complement to a high-deductible
major medical policy, whether you sell it in the individual market or
as a worksite offering. The MMGAP is a tremendous addition to
the UA portfolio for Agents because it gives us enhanced access
to customers with major medical coverage. With MMGAP, we
can offer their customer a higher-deductible major medical policy
to keep the premium more affordable. At the same time, we can
present UA’s MMGAP to help cover the customer’s deductible,
copayments, and coinsurance required, but not covered, by the
major medical policy. MMGAP allows us to be a great insurance
resource for customers.

Every year, more employers are dropping employer-sponsored
coverage. According to a report by the Employee Benefit
Research Institute, the cost of providing employer-sponsored
health insurance to employees doubled between 2000 and 2007.
The report cites that even though employer-sponsored health
benefits are still a good way to attract and retain employees, the
percentage of employers who offer such benefits has dropped.
Why? PREMIUM COST! Understandably, the biggest decline has
been among small employers, who can least afford the premiums.
A report issued by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation early
last year stated that working parents with modest incomes have
experienced the most dramatic erosion of employer-sponsored
benefits. The report found that fewer than 47 percent of parents
in families earning less than $40,000 annually are offered employersponsored health insurance – a nine percent drop over the past decade.

A 2007 report from the Commonwealth Fund reinforces the
fact that American workers and their families are being financially
squeezed as their employers drop employer-sponsored health
benefits. Workers are forced to turn to the individual market,
where they often find coverage unobtainable or unaffordable.
If they are able to purchase coverage, it’s generally with a high
deductible. The same report indicates that people with highdeductible health plans are more likely than those with lowerdeductible plans to have medical debt and to forgo needed
healthcare, seriously impacting long-term health outcomes.

Major medical insurers are competing for the same customers.
Once competition among insurers becomes intense, buyers may
eventually find the same quality major medical products at a lesser
cost from another insurer – but perhaps not; some major medical
companies are already operating at very low profit margins.
It’s well documented that individuals without health insurance have
more difficulty obtaining treatment for illness, pursue treatment
later than those with insurance, and have poorer outcomes.
People die every day in this country because they do not have
health insurance.

Branch Agents are already singing the praises of MMGAP.
Anna Soranaka-Perez of Justin White’s Branch G7 is one of UA’s
most successful. Anna has hit the ground running with this product. How does she do it?

Says Anna, “Not many customers are aware of what gap insurance
is. When I find out my prospect has a major medical policy already in place, I ask, ‘If you were hospitalized, could you afford the out-of-pocket expense?’ Most of the time, they say ‘no.’ Then I tell them UA has a policy that can help them address such expenses. They are now more receptive because they don’t view me as a salesperson, but as someone trying to help them. MMGAP is a product I believe in, and if you believe in something, it’s easy to sell. I sell 10 to 12 MMGAP policies each month in addition to my normal sales, and, have also been able to sell many additional ancillary life and cancer policies.“

With MMGAP, Anna can help her new major medical customers more successfully manage their premium costs. As she puts it, “It is easy to sell, because to the customer the ends justify the means.” The premium cost for a high-deductible major medical policy coupled with the premium cost of MMGAP will be less than the premium cost of a low-deductible major medical policy alone. (See www.uabranch.com/foundation for Sales PowerPoint illustrations or the MMGAP Laptop Sales Presentation.) That frees up premium, part of which customers can spend on ancillary products like life, accident, cancer, or critical illness coverage, or save and use any way they wish.

We’re excited about the possibilities MMGAP brings to the
marketplace and to our Branch Agents. It’s helping to make Anna
Soranaka-Perez a top producer, and it can do the same for you!

Andrew W. King
President and Chief Marketing Officer