Health Insurance Sales Jobs: What to Expect

With a positive outlook through the next decade, health insurance sales jobs are a popular career choice for new and recent grads. Before entering this facet of the insurance employment industry, read ahead for information on what you can expect from this profession.

Health Insurance Sales Agents: The Basics

Health insurance sales jobs require you to sell health insurance policies to clients to cover their needs, including medical, dental and vision insurance. Insurance sales agents often generate new business by contacting potential customers. It then involves explaining various insurance policies and helping clients choose the best plan for their needs. Insurance jobs could also require you to refer clients to independent brokers.

Most who work in this area work in offices, but there are some that spend the majority of their time travelling to meet with clients. You may be employed by an insurance company or work as an independent broker selling the policies of several companies.

Level of Education and Skills

It is possible to get insurance sales job with a high school diploma or GED, but many positions require a bachelor’s degree. There are also many colleges that now offer courses in insurance. Whichever route you take it will be necessary to become licensed to work an insurance sales job in your state. Each state will have slightly different requirements to become licensed, but most involve 20-40 hours of general insurance courses, 6-12 hours of ethics courses, as well as practice exams and quizzes.

As a health insurance agent, you will customize insurance programs to suit individual clients, perform administrative tasks such as keeping records and handling policy renewals, and help policyholders settle claims.

Successful health insurance sales agents have excellent selling, organization and customer service skills, and are not afraid of cold calling customers or asking for sales. Sales agents are responsible for creating their own base of clients, and a certain amount of personal marketing will be required.

Salary Expectations for Health Insurance Sales Agents

While the median annual wage of a sales agent is $46,770, there is always room to make more as many who hold insurance jobs are paid through commissions rather than or in addition to a fixed salary.

Insurance sales jobs as a whole have a positive outlook throughout 2020, with a 22% growth rate – faster than the national average for all occupations.  An aging population and recent changes in federal regulations are expected to increase the demand for health insurance agents.

To view health insurance jobs, visit InsuranceJobs.com.

 

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About Author

Bob Thomas

Bob Thomas is the resident insurance employment expert. He has over a decade of experience in insurance employment consulting.