Florida Health Insurance Online

Buying Florida Health Insurance Online

If you are searching for Florida Health Insurance in Google, your search will return about 1 million web sites. Most of them are asking you to fill out a form with your personal information. You cannot help but wonder what will happen to that information.

Years ago, I filled out a coupon and put in the letter “X” as my middle initial. I wanted to see how many pieces of junk mail I would get as a result. It was staggering to see what came into my mail. I still get junk mail from that experiment.

The same thing can happen online. You can innocently fill out a form and the spam or calls will go on, seemingly forever.

The truth is, your information is frequently sold. Unfortunately, there are more “lead generation” companies than health insurance agents on the net.

When you fill in the form, they sell your information to as many as 20 agents. Depending on the type of Florida health insurance you are looking for and your general health, they can receive up $12 for each lead they sell.

Sometimes, they will do what is known as a live call. That is where an agent pays $35 to $40 to be connected directly to you when you call.

The leads are also resold months from now. They figure that you might not like the plan you bought or are ready to change. Now they resell the leads for a dollar or two to another dozen agents. The calls start again.

What to Look Out For

If you are looking to purchase Florida health insurance and want to avoid these problems, here are a few things to look for before filling in a form.

How much info do they ask for? If they want any of the following, it is probably a lead generation site:

Your height and weight (we have an optional field where you can tell us about pre-existing conditions if you want to)

Your full street address (we only ask for a zip code and county so we can give you a quote. They want to create a mailing list to sell)

They have check boxes for a number of serious conditions (they get less for the lead if you have a medical problem or cannot sell the lead at all. Again we only use an optional field)

Do you see links on the page that says “Affiliates”? This is a program where they pay you a small fee, perhaps two or three dollars to send them a lead that they can then sell.

Here is big warning sign when looking for Florida health insurance. Do they say that you will get quotes from multiple agents? One well known web site advertises that you will “receive personal attention from up to 4 licensed agents”. That is a sure way to know you are being sold.

We Are Different

We are a Florida health insurance agency, licensed and located in the state of Florida.

We do not sell your information to anyone. We do not even keep a database of emails. If any of you are in the marketing business, you will think that is stupid. The fact is, I only sell health insurance. If you are not interested, you are not interested. I am not going to bother you for the next ten years.

I do not want your home address on my form. Your county and/or zip code will do just fine. The quote software never asks for a full address anyway.

I do not need your height and weight or medical history on my form. It is useful to know if you have any pre-existing conditions so that I can send you to a special web site before we speak. Otherwise, I am not screening you because I need to sell “clean leads”.

If you call us ten times, you will always speak to the same person. We do not have a call center. You will speak to someone who has been doing this a very long time (boy I’m getting old) and will tell you the truth, even when you really do not want to hear it. We know all the carriers, all of their quirks and will often find you health insurance when nobody else can.

What about the Insurance Company Web Sites?

Many insurance carriers have their own web sites and sell Florida health insurance directly. They will give you the same quote that we will. They will not be one penny cheaper. They cannot, it is against the law.

The problem is that they will take your information for a mailing database. They cannot sell your health information, but they can sell other information about you.

Their phone centers are staffed by hourly employees. You will get a different person each time you call. Often, they are new or give out erroneous information (you would think they would be better informed). With some Blue Cross organizations, I tell clients to hang up and keep calling back until you get someone who sounds like they know what they are doing. That often requires many calls.

How About the Direct Online Quote Sites?

With many online quote sites, you fill in a lot of information and then get a message that someone will call you. You have just been taken. Your information is now being emailed and faxed to a dozen agents. The race is on to see who calls you first.

Even if you get the online quote, they still sell your information with the details of what you were looking at online. They know everything you do.

I hate online quote sites. They are misleading, you have no idea what you are really looking at, and, you can get a better and more accurate quote from an agent like me. It does not cost anything and the prices are the same. We do have an online quote engine because I have to compete. But, please call me instead. I will give you much more accurate information and for many more plans than you will ever see online.

If you would like a personal quote from a Florida based agent (just one agent), then give me a call. My name is Martin and I am here from 9 AM to about 9 PM. You can reach me at 800-272-0512.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,
Martin Unger

FLQUOTE.COM - A Full Service Insurance Florida agency
Coral Springs, Florida 33076
1-800-272-0512
1-954-757-0033