Obamacare Mandate Kicking Insurance Agents to the Curb (Forbes)

The rumors are now defended by numbers: Since the President’s MLR regulation has gone into effect, insurance agents have seen their commissions slashed by 50 percent. Major insurance companies, including Wellpoint, United Health, Aetna, Humana, and Cigna have cut commissions in order to meet the new requirements, which state that 80 percent of insurer premiums are spent on health care. And now, a recent HHS ruling has rejected the NAIC’s attempt to distinguish between agents’ hard-earned compensation and insurer profits. The best hope for protecting the jobs of 100,000 independent health agents? H.R. 1206, a pending bill in Congress that also moves to exclude agent compensation from the MLR.