Nancy Glicksman used to be a social worker. Every day, she worked with special needs children, helping them and their families learn how to move past their biggest challenges. Now, as an independent insurance producer with her own business, she brings the same attitude of compassion, support, and advocacy to her career. Her agency, Blue Peak Insurance LLC, provides individuals, families, and small businesses with a full range of benefits, including health, disability, life, dental, and vision insurance.
ASJ talked to Glicksman about what drives her career, her greatest challenges are, the trends she's seeing, and how all this health reform talk has impacted her business.
Q: Tell us about yourself. How did you get started in the insurance industry?
NG: I relocated to the Pittsburgh area approximately seven years ago. After having left my previous job as a clinical social worker, I decided it was time for a change. I posted my resume online and was contacted by an insurance firm. I realized I knew nothing about my own coverage, and did a lot of research. After educating myself, I thought it would be a good opportunity to help other individuals learn about their own benefits by incorporating my social work skills.
Q: What made you decide to change careers from clinical social work to selling insurance?
NG: The reason I decided to stop my social work position was because I found myself thinking about my clients all of the time. Some of the individuals I worked with came from very deprived environments, many of which were abusive in nature. I felt like I made progress with the kids, but their environment was hard to change. It was very frustrating to see what these children had to go through. I did a lot of parent education, which was challenging. There were several families [who were] court-ordered to attend, which made for very interesting participation. When I moved to Pittsburgh due to my husband's job, I decided it was time to start fresh.
Q: What is the most challenging thing about your job?
NG: The most challenging thing about my job is securing insurance for individuals with many pre-existing conditions. Also, another big challenge is dealing with large renewal increases for both individuals and groups. I tend to stay involved with my clients on a regular basis and even help individuals secure insurance through government programs and guaranteed issue plans.
Q: What do you like the most about it?
NG: The thing I like the most is dealing with a variety of people. I like to be creative with my approach to try and help families secure the best coverage for the least amount of money.
Q: What are some things that you deal with as an owner of your own insurance business that people who work for someone else don't have to worry about? And how do these issues affect the way you perform your job?
NG: As an owner, I am ultimately responsible for everything. I take that very seriously. I am pretty demanding on myself, in terms of meeting timelines, returning phone calls, etc. My organizational skills are good, which serves me well.
Q: You sell a wide range of products. What are the trends that you're seeing recently – any product that's more popular than the others? What are your customers looking for?
NG: The trends I am seeing in both individual and group products are toward higher-deductible plans. My clients want to know that they have excellent catastrophic coverage, but are not as worried about the day-to-day stuff, especially those in excellent health. Health savings accounts are very popular. Even the insurance carriers are promoting more of the qualified high-deductible plans to promote better consumer choice in managing their health care, which allows insurance carriers to share costs with members.
Q: What do you think about the health reform debate? Has it affected your business yet?
NG: Health care reform is good in theory; however, how it is handled is a different story. I feel very strongly that coverage needs to be available to all individuals, including those with pre-existing conditions. I also think that renewal rates are too high. All the new legislation with mini-COBRA and subsidies requires new procedures and education to employers. Needless to say, staying abreast of all of this is very time-consuming. In terms of my business, I have been extremely busy over the past year. As of yet, it has not affected my production.
Nancy Glicksman is the owner of Blue Peak Insurance LLC. She can be reached at 724-260-0341 or nglicksman@bluepeakinsurance.com.
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